Commercial fire prompts overnight evacuation order

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

A fire at a plastics plant outside of Charles City prompted a late night evacuation alert on Sunday, April 6.

The incident began Sunday at roughly 8:40 p.m. when the Charles City Fire Department responded to a report of smoke coming from a building registered to Hawkeye Mold and Design Co. at 2323 Old Highway Road.

Firefighters battled the burning commercial building deep into the night, involving a total of nearly 70 firefighters from Floyd, Colwell, Rudd, Rockford, Marble Rock, Nora Springs, and Nashua in addition to Charles City.

Because of potentially hazardous materials in the building, the fire warranted a substantial response that involved more than a dozen organizations including Emergency Management Agencies from both Floyd and Cerro Gordo County, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, Charles City Police Department, Iowa State Patrol, Floyd County Communications Center, Floyd County Search and Rescue, Iowa Department of Transportation, Cedar Falls State Radio Communications, the North Central Regional Emergency Response Commission’s HazMat Team, CH Wilson Transport (a next-door trucking company), Iowa Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, MidAmerican Energy, and even the National Weather Service.

Firefighters worked to contain the blaze until around 11:30 p.m., at which point a series of factors including the available water supply and the chemicals inside the building prompted a retreat, authorities said.

“The determination was made that the evacuation had to be done due to the materials that were present inside of there,” said Charles City Fire Chief Sam Deverell.

Shortly after midnight a public safety alert went out county-wide, advising anybody within a half mile downwind of the building to evacuate the area as the fire burnt itself out.

“I apologize to those that got alerted that maybe didn’t need to, but I’d rather over-alert than under-alert,” said Deverell.

Floyd County Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Webster later clarified on social media that the notification was intended to be targeted to just the immediate area around the fire, but ended up going out further than anticipated.

“Something glitched in the system. Had only the intended people have gotten the notification, it would have been a success,” wrote Webster. “We did not intend to cause the confusion that ensued.”

Webster also noted that the mobile alert was used as a secondary measure after sheriff’s deputies made door-to-door contact with residents in the affected area.

By noon on Monday, the evacuation order had been lifted and residents were given the go ahead to return to their homes.

“At this time, the fire has consumed most of the fuel in the building and it’s burning itself out,” said Deverell Monday afternoon. “There’s no immediate danger to the public outside the scene.”

Firefighters returned on Monday to monitor the building’s integrity and surrounding air quality as the fire burnt itself out.

Old Highway Road remained closed to keep spectators away from the building. Short of an unforeseen and drastic event, Deverall expected it opened back up by Tuesday.

Hawkeye Preferred Tooling Group describes itself as a blow mold manufacturing specialist that makes molds for plastic blow molding and injection molding, as well as doing custom plastic molding onsite for various customers worldwide. It has expanded at its current location several times since it started in 2001, according to Press files.

The structure fire was an unexpected punctuation for an already busy weekend as firefighters spent their Saturday training at the old Kmart parking lot, facilitated by property owner Paul Rottinhaus. Using propane donated by AgVantage, the Firefighter 1 class gave them practice on putting out propane tanks, cars, and interiors.

On Monday evening, firefighters from Charles City, Floyd and Colwell responded to a garage fire in the 400 block of 3rd Avenue in Charles City.