The body of an elderly Jewell man was found in a wooden farmhouse that caught fire Monday in rural Hamilton County, authorities said.
The body of an elderly man was found in a wooden farmhouse that caught fire early Monday morning in rural Hamilton County, authorities said.
Firefighters responded to a call of hotspots and explosions at 12:04 a.m. Monday to a residence at 3685 Poplar Grove Ave. in Jewell. When firefighters arrived, the home was completely consumed in flames, said the city’s fire chief, Duane Hendrickson.
Shortly after firetrucks arrived, a car exploded, causing a loud boom and setting the garage on fire. Winds moved flames to a nearby abandoned house, and within minutes, three cars had exploded at the home where the man ran a salvage business and had liquid propane tanks outside, the chief said.
Hendrickson described at least one of the vehicles as being a “fireball.”
By 5 a.m., fire agencies from three towns helped get the blaze under control, Hendrickson said. He estimated that at one point, 45 firefighters were on scene at the home, which was about 20 miles north of Ames.
Five hours later, the body of the man estimated to be about 73 years old — whose name has not been released — was discovered in a bedroom in the destroyed home. His body has been sent for an autopsy.
Hendrickson called the man physically impaired; while he could walk on his own, he used a motor scooter to get around. The man had a spouse who was not at the home during the blaze, the chief said.
No cause for the fire has been determined. Authorities do not consider the blaze suspicious, said Hendrickson, who has been the city’s fire chief for more than 15 years.
The man was the first person killed in a fire in more than 25 years in the area’s fire district that covers 75 square miles, including Jewell and Lyon Township, Hendrickson told the Register.
