MANLY, IOWA – A house, vehicle and more burned in Manly on Monday afternoon.
NIT has received word of a fire near North Broadway in Manly; a vehicle and a house are on fire and the fire may be spreading as of 3:10 PM. A witness tells NIT there is “very black smoke” at the scene. Onlookers watched as fire fighters arrived to fight the blaze.
A Manly resident tells NIT that “all I know now is a yellow house caught on fire, car exploded and the apartment building next to the house is on fire now… it’s on Broadway.”
The address of the blaze appears to be 216 E North Street.
Manly, Kensett, Hanlontown, and Plymouth fire depts are on the scene now, NIT is told, with more possibly on the way.
More on this developing situation when available.
UPDATE:
Monday afternoon around 2:15 PM dark smoke filled the sky on the east side of Manly.
At 217 E. North Street it could be seen that the whole facade of that house was up in the flames. A SUV in the driveway was also engulfed in flames.
Three hours later, smoke could still be seen and Fire Fighters from Kensett, Hanlontown, Grafton Manly were still working, making sure all embers were out.
The fire started at above address, but quickly started the neighboring apartment building ablaze also.
The roof of the apartment building collapsed and the house was totally destroyed.
A lady at the scene, whose niece lives in one of the upstairs apartments, “Yeah, everybody got out okay. The roof totally collapsed. I was in bottom one by the air conditioner.”
Another resident was heard saying, “Can we go in now? I need to check on my cats. I know one got out, but the others may still be in there.”
A backhoe pulled up and started tearing what was left of the building down. Officer at the scene said, “That’s to make sure it’s totally out, so it won’t start up again.”
