(KIWA Staff Photo)Sibley, Iowa — An apartment complex was damaged in a fire on Friday, October 2, 2026, in Sibley.
According to Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls, just before 6:00 a.m., the Sibley Fire Department was called to the report of an apartment building with smoke coming out of it near 10th Street and 3rd Avenue in Sibley.
When they got there, the chief says the fire department saw smoke coming from vents. He says tenants in one apartment experienced smoke in their unit and found that the bathroom ceiling exhaust fan had shorted out. He says they were told to shut the breaker off, which they did, but it didn’t take care of the problem. The fire department was called later.
Huls says when they got there, they found it was an asphalt roof with a steel roof on top of it, which made it difficult to locate and remedy the source of the problem. He says they did use their thermal imaging camera, but found no visible sign of flame.
Huls said they tore some of the bathroom ceiling down and found embers in the blown-in insulation, which had continued burning without anyone’s knowledge, and had burned into other ceiling areas of other apartment units.
Huls says the first time firefighters were there for about two hours.
He says they periodically checked throughout the day as there was still some smoke. Then, Huls says he could smell wood burning, so he had the department re-paged. He says they pulled more ceiling down and found rafters may have smoldered.
He says after they took care of that issue, the smoke dissipated.
Huls says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by the Ashton Fire Department during the first call.
Chief Huls reports that the damage was probably between $150,000 and $200,000. He says it is fixable, but it’s going to take some work. Nothing is burned in the apartments themselves, but there is significant smoke and water damage.
He says three of the six units are uninhabitable, and those tenants were displaced. Luckily, they all had places they could go in the meantime.
