No injuries reported in structure fire at Heartland Co-op in Newton

Firefighters from several Jasper County agencies on Jan. 8 were able to prevent flames from spreading in a structure fire at the Heartland Co-op in Newton, but the shed that was fully engulfed when first responders arrived to the scene is considered to be a total loss. No one was injured in the fire.

Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik said the fire was called in by a passerby along Iowa Highway 14. Emergency response personnel arrived around 7:30 a.m. to protect other structures from the fire. By around 9 a.m., most of the flames had been doused by fire crews. An excavator was called in to haul away debris.

“It was kind of an old frame shed and it was just covered in steel, similar to a pole shed,” Wellik said to Newton News at the scene of the fire. “As far as we know right now there were a couple (semi-trucks) in there and some storage. No injuries. Nobody was in the building.”

Crews at the Newton Fire Department had just finished their morning briefing when the call came in. Fire departments from Newton, Baxter, Colfax, Kellogg, Mingo and Monroe responded to the fire, as well as the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and Jasper County EMS.