(Undated)– The Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Department has been keeping busy with two calls within the past day or so. Chief Chris Yungbluth tells KUOO news the first call came in around 4:00 pm Thursday when they were dispatched to the scene of a possible house fire in the area of Iowa Street and Linden Drive in Arnolds Park…
“Upon arrival, law enforcement, they got everybody evacuated out of the home. When fire got there, there was a light haze of smoke throughout the house. Firefighters made a quick determination that it was a malfunctioning furnace that smoked up the house. We were able to get it ventilated out and they were able to occupy it again immediately. They had been having some furnace problems and so that’s kind of the issue they had there.”
Yungbluth says with the cold weather it’s important to have your heating system checked over by a professional, if you haven’t yet done so this season…
“For sure. Furnaces, and then if you’re burning wood like in fireplaces and using that source of heat, make sure that your chimneys have been cleaned and that they’re good to go that way, too.”
Firefighters were on the scene about 45 minutes Thursday.
Then, this (Fri.) morning, Yungbluth says they were called to a natural gas leak on Lakeshore Drive near O’Farrell Sisters in Okoboji. Yungbluth says a contractor tearing down a house accidentally struck the line. Lakeshore Drive in that area was closed to traffic as crews had to dig up a part of the street to get the gas shut off.
