The collision sent a sport utility vehicle into a ditch on the east side of the road, where it burst into flames. A column of black smoke blew over the road as firefighters worked to put out the blaze.

The other vehicle involved in the crash came to rest in the northbound lane, partially off the road. It did not catch fire.

The crash remained under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol late Saturday night.

The identities of those involved were not available.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Two vehicles collided early Saturday evening on Webster County Road P59, leaving one person dead.

The crash occurred at about 5 p.m. on a curving section of Webster County Road P59 between U.S. Highway 20 and Quail Avenue.

Fort Dodge Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter said one person died. He said two others were taken by Fire Department ambulances to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

Firefighters from Otho and Fort Dodge used two hoselines to battle the gasoline-fueled fire in the sport utility vehicle.

“We had a lot of gasoline on the ground so we had to apply foam,” Hergenreter said.

Foam is a material that looks like soap suds which extinguishes flammable liquids fires by depriving them of the oxygen they need to burn. Because of the severity of the fire, additional buckets of foam mixture had to be brought to the scene. Otho firefighters also responded with a tanker truck to supply more water.

A long stretch of Webster County Road P59 was still closed to traffic at about 9 p.m. Saturday.

Firefighters from Otho and Fort Dodge, Webster County sheriff’s deputies, Iowa State Patrol troopers and Webster County Deputy Medical Examiner Mark Gargano responded to the scene.

While emergency personnel were dealing with that crash, a second collision occurred farther north on Webster County Road P59 near the entrance to the Gypsum City Off-Highway Vehicle Park. No one was apparently injured in that crash.

Saturday night’s incident was the second fatal crash in Webster County in a week.

Phillip Wooden, 24, of Kansas City, Missouri, died Thursday morning when the stolen van police said he was driving crashed on U.S. Highway 169 south of Iowa Highway 7. Wooden, who reportedly stole the van in Des Moines during a carjacking earlier that morning, was being pursued by police when the crash happened. The van rolled over and Wooden was thrown from it.