Jim Naprstek | My Duhawk

An abandoned Dubuque home caught fire Sunday evening

DUBUQUE – Late Sunday evening, the City of Dubuque Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 1350 Cummins Court. Upon arrival, emergency personnel determined that the home had been abandoned and the utilities shut off. Dubuque Fire Marshall Mark Ludescher reported, “initial speculation indicates that this fire’s cause lies with arson, as the landlord recently reported a break-in attempt at the home.” Before the fire, plans were made to board up the windows, in hopes to prevent further trespassing. Ludescher did acknowledge that another possible cause could be the combustion of organic material that still resided in the home. The Dubuque Fire Department will continue its investigation on Monday morning with hopes to determine a cause for the fire.

Key West, IA – Fifty to sixty firefighters were at the scene of a fire in Key West. What is to be believed started as a grass fire spread and engulfed in flames a home at 5170 St. Joe’s Prairie.

Dispatchers were called to the scene at 5:15 PM this evening.

Neighbors say only one individual is currently living at the residence and was assisting his son with crops at the time the fire broke out. A nearby neighbor reported the fire.

Key West Fire Chief, Brian Arnold, says that there was one injury to a firefighter on the scene whose current conditions is listed as fair.

Find out more and hear from Fire Chief Arnold on From the Boulevard this Wednesday at 7pm.

Felicia Carner can be reached at felicia.carner@loras.edu

Abhishek Agarwal
Published: September 25, 2008

DUBUQUE — An apartment building at 1390 Bluff Street caught fire in downtown Dubuque around 12:50 pm this afternoon. The fire started in an apartment where a construction crew was scraping paint off the windows using a heat gun.

“They were scraping the paint off the wall and the heat gun caught the wood on fire and it went up in the attic,” says apartment resident Amanda Browning.

No one was injured as the construction crew called 911 and evacuated the building. Everybody was able to get out of the building in time but had to leave behind their pets in the burning building.

“I was scared I was trying to get my cats I am like let’s get the cats and go but they told us we couldn’t they told us all to get out and leave,” describes Browning.

The streets were cordoned off on all four sides making Loras Boulevard virtually inaccessible. Traffic had to be redirected around the scene. The fire department was able to get the fire under control quickly; however, the building did sustain some damage and a lot of debris had to be thrown out.

Abhishek Agarwal can be contacted at Abhishek.Agarwal@loras.edu