Crews from the Muscatine Fire Department, along with firefighters from Fruitland and Milton, spent more than seven hours on Thursday battling a fire at Muscatine Metals on Dick Drake Way.
Firefighters responded around 11 a.m. to a large pile of metal, mostly vehicles, that was on fire and began the battle to keep the blaze from spreading towards Musco Lighting.
The fire was contained in about 30 minutes, and declared under control at 3 p.m. Units remained on the scene until 6 p.m. to watch for hot spots.
Dick Drake Way was closed to traffic between U.S. 61 and Stewart Road through the afternoon.
The plume of thick, black smoke could be seen from several miles away, and was even picked up on weather radar.
#fire at Muscatine Metals in #muscatine #iowa this is from 9 miles north at #MuscatineMenards @kwqcnews @KWQCMontse @journalonline @muscatinefire pic.twitter.com/zyLS1Gv2gU
— Melinda Just Melinda (@adnileM73) December 16, 2021
There appears to be a substantial fire in progress near Muscatine, Iowa. #IAwx pic.twitter.com/uHLKrvaTyd
— Nick Stewart (@NStewCBS2) December 16, 2021
No injuries were reported. Fire loss is unknown since scrapped vehicles were mostly involved. The cause remains under investigation but preliminary findings point to an accidental fire.
