Damage at nearly $3 million after Hamilton County shed fire
Trending
WEBSTER CITY -- Nearly $3 million in damage was sustained in the Dec. 16 fire at the Hamilton County maintenance shed, according to County Engineer Nicole Stinn.
The cause of the early morning fire is still under investigation, she said, adding that the state fire marshal and a cause and origins specialist have reviewed the site.
Stinn said the fire totally destroyed two plow trucks, eight pickup trucks, a plow for a pickup and about $750,000 in assorted tools and equipment.
"Our crews were able to remove three motor graders, two plow trucks, a loader, skid loader and a shop truck from the western portion of the building while fire crews were still battling the fire," she said. "Those pieces are still operational, but most of them received a large amount of smoke damage that needs to be mitigated in order to allow them to be used. "
She estimated the total dollar amount in damage to the vehicles, equipment and building contents at around $1.5 million. Damage to the building itself was judged to be at least $1.5 million.
"So we’re looking at about $3 million in total impact," she said.
Stinn offered her assurance to Hamilton County residents that despite the loss, the secondary roads department will still be able to provide service in the event of a winter storm.
"We’re working on getting the smoke-damaged equipment clean enough to use in short order, and we were able to pull together enough old trucks to temporarily replace the trucks that were total losses," she said. "We will work on replacing lost equipment as soon as we receive values from the insurance company."
She said it will take a minimum of a year to spec out, purchase and build new trucks to fit the local operation.
"As always, we will try to provide the best service we can, but we do ask for a little patience, especially through the next month or two we really try to sort everything out," Stinn said.