Change Clocks…Change Batteries
(Le Mars) — Change your clock…change your batteries. That’s the advice given by the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department as it relates to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Le Mars Fire Chief Dave Schipper says it is a good reminder to change the batteries each time we need to change our clocks.
Fatal Fire At Webster City
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) – Investigators have not yet been able to determine what caused a central Iowa house fire this week that killed one man and injured a woman.
Webster City Fire Chief Charles Stansfield tells the Fort Dodge Messenger (https://bit.ly/2mcI2JK ) that investigators are still working. But he also raised the possibility that the cause of the blaze may never be discovered.
Investigators do know the blaze started Wednesday night on the second floor of a two-story house that had been converted upstairs and downstairs apartments.
Arriving firefighters Wednesday night found the couple inside. Both were taken to a hospital, where the man died. The woman remains in critical condition. Their names have not yet been released.
A firefighter also suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from a hospital.
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Train Derailment Continues To Burn
GRAETTINGER, Iowa (AP) – An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board says an ethanol-fueled fire in northwestern Iowa at the site of rural train derailment is still burning nearly 36 hours after it erupted.
Peter Knudson with the NTSB says that two tankers carrying ethanol were still burning midmorning Saturday, keeping investigators away from the site.
Knudson said investigators still planned to interview train crew members Saturday and perform other limited investigation until they can take a look at the site.
The derailment occurred around 1 a.m. Friday near Graettinger (GREHT’-ihn- jur), about 160 miles northwest of Des Moines. It sent 27 tanker cars, each carrying 25,000 gallons of ethanol, off the tracks. Two crew members escaped unharmed, and no other injuries had been reported. The train was operated by Omaha-based Union Pacific Railroad.
Mason City Neighborhood To Get Face Lift
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – A neighborhood near downtown Mason City is getting a much-needed face lift.
The Globe Gazette reports (https://bit.ly/2m2Op2Z ) that four historic houses in a flood-stricken area that had been slated to be demolished have instead been relocated to East State Street. An additional dozen homes on intersecting First Street have been razed to make way for a condo development.
Among the relocated houses is the historic Egloff house. It was built in 1938 in the international style with flat roofs and smooth walls. The others are a 1936 Tudor revival, a 1923 American four square and a 1941 limestone period revival cottage.
Community Benefit-Mason City member Robin Anderson said the project initially focused solely on the Egloff House, but expanded to include the other homes as a way to preserve significant architecture.
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