Fire in Montezuma damages downtown building

Members of Montezuma's Fire Department fight the cold and smoke on Wednesday January 26, 2011

Wednesday evening a fire on the West side of the square in downtown Montezuma damaged a building that houses two businesses, R & R Restorations and Russel T’s Pizza, located at 106 s. 3rd Street.

Montezuma’s Fire Chief stated that it appeared that most of the fire was contained to the Southwest corner of the building. The alarm came in at 7:37 p.m. Wednesday night, with units from Grinnell and Deep River assisting Montezuma in containing the fire.

Russ Talbert and his mother Betty were in the building when it caught on fire. Russ, of Russel T’s Pizza, said they have a security system that alerts them when the front door or back door is opened. When he and his mother Betty were in the kitchen, the sensor alerted him that the front door was open. “I looked up and the front door was just standing open like this (indicating the door was open fully) and I looked around, here this smoke started coming, all of a sudden here it come. I got a hold of her [Betty] and we got a way out. I’m glad we did when we did. It just smoked us up, turned my white hair black.” Russ said of their escape from the building.

Russ said the fire started in the Southwest corner of the building, in the paint booth, of R & R Restorations.

Grinnell's ladder truck was on scene to assist Montezuma

I asked Russ if he knew how the fire might have started. “He [Rick Talbert] was welding on a vehicle back there tonight, putting body panels on. We think it might be that, possibly, or a heat lamp.”

It appears that no one was injured in the fire, and the extent of the damage is yet to be determined.

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