(The following story by Grant Schulte appeared on the Des Moines Register website on July 31.)
DES MOINES, Iowa — An explosion near a mall and grocery store in downtown Sioux Center forced the evacuation Tuesday of anyone within a half-mile radius of the blast, authorities said. Emergency crews reported one injury.
Authorities said the blaze, which began about 4:45 p.m., ignited near U.S. Highway 75 as a fuel tanker unloaded a flammable substance, possibly ethanol, into a railway car at the Farmers Co-Op Elevator.
The explosion prompted authorities to evacuate about 100 homes and 30 businesses — roughly one-third of the town’s population, by one official’s account — just west of Sioux Center’s business district. Emergency crews moved some residents to a nearby recreation center for shelter, said Jerry Holtrop, chief deputy for the Sioux County Sheriff. Fire and hazardous materials crews contained the flames by 7 p.m., but had not lifted the evacuation order.
“We were just telling them to leave their residences and find relatives in other towns,” Holtrop said.
David Krahling, a spokesman for the Sioux Center Fire Department, said the blaze had not damaged any buildings, and could not say with certainty what the tanker was holding. One person was taken to the Sioux Center Community Hospital with unknown injuries, he said.
Authorities had not yet pinpointed the fire’s cause.
Five local volunteer fire departments and a crew from the Sioux City Fire Department Hazardous Materials unit responded to the blaze. Some residents said they could see the smoke from well beyond the half-mile evacuation radius.
The fire hit less than a block from the Centre Mall, with several shops and a movie theater, and a Fareway Store in one of the busiest parts of town.
Investigators have not yet concluded that ethanol started the fire, Krahling said.
Sioux Center, population 6,600, is located about 45 miles north of Sioux City in northwest Iowa.
(Register correspondent Maggie O’Brien contributed to this story.)