Multiple Departments Work To Bring Fire Under Control

Oskaloosa, Fremont, New Sharon, and Ottumwa fire departments are working a fire at DFS in southeast Oskaloosa. Mahaska County CERT and Mahaska Health Emergency Services are also on the scene.
photo by Joe Milledge/KIIC

At approximately 9:15 p.m. on July 12th the Oskaloosa Fire Dept, was paged to a report of smoke coming out of the top of one of the buildings at DFS Oskaloosa LLC located at 2905 S. 33rd Street in Oskaloosa. First arriving fire crews were on scene 6 minutes after the initial call came in reported smoke coming from the top of the building, and after obtaining information from employees of DFS made entry and located the area of concern approximately 3/4 of the way up the 140-foot structure. The crew then descended down and called for all off-duty and reserve Oskaloosa firefighters and began formulating a plan of attack. An initial explosion occurred while plans were being formulated but the secondary explosion which happens quite often in these emergencies did not occur thanks in big part to the dust mitigation efforts of the DFS Company.

Due to the location of the fire in the structure and the need for a large volume of water that wasn’t readily available, mutual aid was requested from New Sharon Fire as well as Fremont Fire and Ottumwa Fire. Mahaska Emergency Management was on scene along with CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) who set up a cooling station and provided food and cold drinks for the responders. Mahaska County Ambulance was also on the scene providing medical assistance if needed. Mid-American power was also summoned to cut gas and power to the building.

Crews had to ascend the structure initially carrying the needed gear with them to the top of the building where they were met with fire on the roof and eventually, they had to cut access holes in the pellet line cooling stack to attack the fire which eventually dropped the product down the cooling shaft to the ground level where crews were able to cool the product and machinery with water to eventually bring an end to the event.

Oskaloosa fire officials worked closely (with) DFS VP/COO Jarrod Plants who assisted greatly with the layout of the building and other demographics and played a huge role in bringing the situation under control. Also on scene were workers from Mid-States Millwright and Builders who helped immensely with getting equipment up to the area of origin with their large crane that was on scene.

No injuries were reported during the incident and crews were headed back to the station by 5:43 a.m. and back in service at 7:10 a.m. Oskaloosa Fire Dept. would like to thank all the neighboring fire depts. for their assistance as well as all the entities that had a part in the emergency.