Clinton firefighter returns after serious injuries

After four months of recovery, Clinton firefighter Adam Cain, who was severely injured early this year while fighting a silo fire at the Archer Daniels Midland Grain Facility in Clinton, returned Wednesday morning to light duty at the fire station.

Cain was in the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics after the Jan. 5 explosion for 20 days before being released to go home and continue his recovery.

Clinton firefighters were battling a fire in a silo at the ADM Grain Facility early that day when there was an explosion at 8:45 a.m.

Clinton Fire Department Lt. Eric Hosette, 33, a 12-year veteran who also served as chief of the Charlotte Volunteer Fire Department, was killed.

Clinton Fire Chief Mike Brown said during a news conference then that two shifts were involved in fighting the early morning fire.

'The first shift went in and stabilized the fire somewhat,” Brown said. 'We traded off shifts at 7 a.m. like we do every day and then about 8:45 a.m., in what we thought was a stabilizing incident, there was an explosion.”

Hosette was taken to Mercy Medical Center- Clinton, where Brown said the medical staff 'did everything possible to try and revive him.”

'He was a fine man with a wife and young daughter,” Brown added.

After he was released from the hospital, Cain in late January briefly visited the Clinton fire station, where more than 100 friends and family members welcomed him.

The fire and explosion at the grain facility still are under investigation.