An electrical short is being blamed for a large fire in western Iowa on July 4. Jeff Cullen, an inspector with the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s office, says the fire destroyed a building in downtown Audubon. “The most likely cause we’re coming up with right now is there was an electrical issue behind one of the appliances in the kitchen area in the rear of the building,” Cullen said.

The fire was reported around noon on July 4. Audubon firefighters were joined by crews from Atlantic, Brayton, Adair, Exira, Manning, and Templeton. Many of the fire trucks had been participating in a parade in Exira. No one was injured. Audubon’s mayor said the top of the building was vacant and the lower floor was used primarily for storage.

(Radio Iowa)

(Updates to say fire was electrical in nature)

An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s Office has determined a fire late Monday morning at a business in Griswold was caused by an apparent electrical problem. The call about flames inside the building at 615 Main Street (Southwest Iowa Tiling) came in at around 11:50-a.m. Griswold Fire Captain Dustin Wyman was one of the first firefighters from Griswold to arrive. He describes what the scene looked like.

Evidence of the damage caused by the fire at SW IA Tiling in Griswold.

Photo courtesy Cass Co. Deputy Bill Ayers.

Wyman said there was a large amount of black smoke coming from the east side of the building. One initial attack, there were windows broken out on the south side, with smoke and flames pouring out. All the employees escaped and were not injured.

Inside the building were a number of vehicles, tools and welding tanks. One of the vehicles, a pickup truck converted into a service vehicle, was heavily damaged by the flames. Firefighters from Lewis, Elliott, Red Oak and Atlantic were called to help fight the flames and provide extra water. Red Oak and Atlantic brought their Quint, or ladder trucks to the scene.

The flames were knocked down within about 30-to 45-minutes. The building was a total loss.

Firefighters with Griswold Fire and Rescue, Lewis Fire, and Atlantic Fire and Rescue’s ladder truck, have responded to a report of flames in the building at 615 Main Street in Griswold, the site of Southwest Iowa Tiling. The call was dispatched at 11:49-a.m., Monday. Red Oak fire has also been paged out to help with the blaze.

No other details are currently available.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Terry Branstad says he does not want Iowa to host any Central American children who have crossed the Mexican border on their own since Oct. 1. During a news conference Monday, Branstad said he was not aware of any immigrant children currently in Iowa. He said the federal government should focus on securing the borders.  Branstad and other governors met with federal officials Sunday on the issue.

Under current law, immigrant children from countries that do not border the United States and who cross into this country by themselves are turned over to federal authorities. They are then sent to live with relatives in the country while awaiting a ruling from immigration court.

Since Oct. 1, more than 57,000 children have crossed the border alone.

Police in Atlantic report two arrests over the weekend. On Saturday, 34-year old Roger Vincent, of Cumberland, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense. And on Sunday, 33-year old Thor Jordan, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

In an update to our story over the weekend, the driver of a pickup truck was cited for Failure to Yield upon making a left turn, following an accident Friday evening, near the Atlantic Wal-Mart store. Officials with the Atlantic Police Department say Jacob Mulford, of Elk Horn, was cited following an investigation into the crash that happened at around 4:20-p.m. at the intersection of Highways 6 & 71 on Atlantic’s east side.

Photo’s by Ric Hanson/KJAN News

Officials say Mulford and his unidentified passenger were traveling westbound on Highway 6 in a 2001 Dodge Ram pickup and approaching the intersection with Highway 71, at the same time Kaycee Anstey, of Massena, was traveling east in a 2005 Ford Focus. Both drivers had the green light.

The pickup, which was following behind another vehicle that had just turned left onto southbound 71, also made the left turn, but it collided with the car. Both vehicles ended up on the southeast side of the intersection. The damage amounted to $12,000.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, with the help of several other agencies, has positively identified the body that was pulled from the Missouri River on July 1, 2014. The male body was located in the area of Lincoln’s Landing campground near the Plattsmouth Bridge in southern Mills County. Through cooperative effort of the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County, NE Coroner’s Office, Dr. John Filippi DDS D-ABFO, and the staff at Jennie Edmundson Hospital, the body of a missing person found in the Missouri River was positively identified as 49 year old Robert T. Jensen of Council Bluffs.

Family members of Jensen called after reading the descriptions of the tattoos located on the body. Visual confirmation of the tattoos was then made by family members.  Dr. John Filippi DDS D-ABFO (Diplomate American Board of Forensic Odontolgy) positively identified Jensen via biometric dental comparison analysis.

The investigation continues into the death of Robert T. Jensen.

A passenger in a van that rolled over near Hancock Saturday evening tried to save the life of the driver, after he was ejected and the van partially rolled on top of him. Pottawattamie County Chief Deputy Sheriff John Reynolds told KJAN News the accident involving a 2000 GMC Safari van happened at around 6-p.m. Saturday.

Reynolds said the accident happened on Patton Avenue at about 430th Street, near Hancock. When a deputy arrived, he found a 2000 GMC Safari van on its driver’s side in the ditch west of the intersection, and the driver, 36-year old Sean Eveland, of Shelby, pinned beneath the A-pillar of the van. His passenger was identified as 24-year old James Chew, of the Avoca area. The deputy helped Chew use a 4×4 post to pry the vehicle off Eveland and keep the weight off his chest, until the first responders arrived.

Eveland was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, for treatment of unknown injuries. Chew suffered unknown, possible injuries. A report on his status is not available. Reynolds said evidence gathered at the scene indicated the driver was probably under the influence, but the accident remains under investigation.

No charges have been filed at this time.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A newspaper report says 29 of Iowa’s 99 counties have no ambulance or only one capable of providing full-time, 24-hour-a-day service. These 29 counties are home to nearly 427,000 people. The Des Moines Register also says in its analysis of data from the Iowa Bureau of Emergency Medical Services that 14 Iowa counties have four or fewer emergency medical service agencies of any kind within their borders.

Brian Donaldson is director of Sumner Emergency Medical Services, and he says part of the problem is that emergency medical services are not required of cities and counties.  Donaldson says a 2007 study showed the relative risk of a rural victim dying in a crash is 15 times greater than in urban areas, after adjusting for other contributing factors.

Sheriff’s officials in Cass County have released additional details about an accident at Lake Anita Sunday evening that resulted in two people being injured. As we reported on KJAN.com News Sunday, Anita and Wiota Fire and Rescue personnel and Cass County Deputies responded to the scene.

Authorities say 41-year old Curtis Dow Baldwin, of Anita, was driving a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer that went out of control, entered a ditch and hit several trees before coming to rest near the Ranger’s station west of the entrance to Lake Anita, just after 6:45-p.m.

Baldwin and his passenger, 40-year old Ryan Lavin, of Lansing, IL, were injured and transported by ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic by Anita Fire and Rescue. Baldwin was  cited for OWI/3rd offense and Driving While Barred, while Lavin was cited for allowing an unauthorized person to drive a vehicle. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $5,000.