Fire causes significant damage to Iowa City apartment building

IOWA CITY - Firefighters are still trying to determine what caused a fire at an Iowa City apartment building Thursday evening.

According to the Iowa City Fire Department, crews were called to 433 S. Johnson St. at 7:13 p.m. Thursday for a report of an attic fire. Responding units found fire and smoke coming from the eaves of the three-story building. Most of the occupants had left the building before firefighters arrived on scene.

Crews kept the fire contained to the attic and had it extinguished within 50 minutes of arriving on scene. However, the fire still did significant damage to the building. A loss estimate is not available at this time.

The fire department called in off-duty firefighters to backfill fire stations and assist at the scene. Coralville, Hills, Solon and West Branch firefighters also assisted with backfilling the stations. The fire department was assisted by Iowa City police, the Johnson County Ambulance Service and Mid-American Energy.

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com