Early Morning Fire Awakens Residents

Firefighters are seen here working an early morning fire in Oskaloosa

Oskaloosa, Iowa – An early morning fire damaged apartment 35 at 109 18th Ave East, in the Highland Park Apartment complex.

The call came in at approximately 3:40 am, and all of the residents of the apartment complex were evacuated from their apartments as a precaution.

A large amount of smoke was visible, with an Oskaloosa PD Officer saying they could observe the glow of the fire upon their arrival.

“There was visible flame coming out of the window,” Neff explained about the scene when the fire truck arrived.

“We got the call about 45 minutes ago of an apartment bedroom on fire,” Oskaloosa Fire Chief Mark Neff said. He said that the responding firefighters “got a real good knock down on it and held it to the room.”

“It appears the occupant was smoking in bed,” Neff said upon initial investigation of the scene.

Residents were able to make their way back to their apartments after the fire department was confident that all the hot spots had been taken care of.

In total, 9 firefighters were on scene over an hour, with 3 fire trucks on scene. They were assisted by the Oskaloosa Police Department and Mahaska County Sheriff’s Department.

No injuries were reported.