KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsFuture unclear for Lake View, IA plant damaged by fire
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LAKE VIEW, Iowa (KTIV) -- A Lake View, Iowa business, part of that community for a century, was destroyed by fire Monday night. The debris left behind still smoldered much of Tuesday.
It took five hours to destroy more than 100 years of history and now the future of one of Lake View's major employers is unclear.
Lake View Fire Chief Jim Garrels said, "In the eighteen years I've been on, it's the biggest structure fire I've been on."
Garrels and the rest of his volunteer crew arrived at the Hancock Concrete plant Monday night to find it engulfed. The Minnesota-based company produces culverts, manholes and other materials used for infrastructure.
"We're one of the major industries in Sac County," says Bill Adams of Hancock Concrete.
About thirty people work at the plant, but they won't be on the job here anytime soon. Adams says, while the company would like to rebuild, it's been hit hard by the economy and officials have a lot to consider.
"I just don't feel like anybody can make any commitments without there being a lot of analysis," Adams says.
Hancock does a lot of business with cities and counties and an all around shortage of public money has hurt the company's bottom line.
Adams says, "It's been pretty rough for us the last couple of years. Just as the economy goes, we go."
In a rural Iowa town of about a thousand people, every job counts.
Garrels said, "It'll be tough for the community because they do employ quite a few people in this town."
The State Fire Marshal was on the scene of the fire Tuesday, but it could be two to three days before they determine a cause.
The company was already planning seasonal layoffs, so many employees were already planning for time off of work.
Hancock Concrete owns several other plants in the Midwest. For the time being, the Lake View plant's work will be shifted to another facility in Sibley, Iowa.
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