Fires

The EPA said the company broke federal law by not giving safety data sheets to first responders and not issuing an emergency notice after the explosion that injured nine employees — at least two seriously — and caused a fire that took Eastern Iowa firefighters 18 hours to extinguish.

A commercial building in Ely was destroyed in a fire Wednesday night, but no injuries were reported, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

A Tama County man suffered severe burns on one-third of his body in a Dec. 8 explosion at the C6-Zero plant, where he worked as a contractor, according to a lawsuit filed in Iowa County.

The North Liberty and Tiffin fire departments are working to expand recruitment and services using money from a federal grant program designed to help improve staffing for fire departments.

The Marion Fire Department has partnered with a Virginia-based nonprofit, the Center for Public Safety Excellence, to craft an updated strategic plan for how the department can best use its resources to serve the community.

The Cedar Rapids Fire Department responded Thursday night to an explosion on top of corn processing and storage elevators at the Cedar Rapids ADM plant on 60th Ave. SW. As of 10 a.m. Friday, they were still on the scene, actively engaged with a smoldering grain fire in one or more silos.

A December explosion and fire that injured a dozen people and caused a small-scale evacuation in Marengo was caused when an “unknown mechanical failure” ignited flammable air vapor, the State Fire Marshal reported.

Bill Erb worked nearly every first responder job there is before becoming the Tiffin fire marshal and code enforcement officer — the department’s first full-time employee position — in early January.

Iowa Homeland Security will pay more than $600,000 to replace firefighting clothing and equipment damaged in a Dec. 8 explosion and fire in Marengo after the company whose plant exploded refused to pay.

A fatal fire in a Rodeway Inn in Cedar Rapids on Feb. 1 was caused by smoking materials that were in the room, according to the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.

Iowa will pay a contractor up to $834,000 to remove toxic “forever chemicals” from water in a 12-million-gallon basin holding runoff from a December explosion and fire in Marengo.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources no longer has a deadline by which C6-Zero must clean up a Marengo explosion site, but is requiring the company to pay more than $400,000 for the work.