PANORA — A fire at the home of Rod and Nancy Savage, 421 N.E. Second St. in Panora at approximately 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon had the Panora and Guthrie Center Fire Departments in action for the second time in 16 hours.
Both departments were on scene, for nearly 14 hours, at a fatal fire in Guthrie Center, which began at 12:30 a.m. Monday. That fire claimed the lives of two juveniles, with two adults sent to a Nebraska burn center with serious injuries.
Fortunately for all involved, no injuries were sustained in the Monday afternoon fire, which caused extensive damage to the Savage home. No one was in the home at the time of the blaze.
Panora Fire Chief Matt Harmann said the decision to call Guthrie Center for mutual aid was a quick one.
“I paged them right away,” he said. “We are all still wore out form this morning.”
Harmann said 17 or 18 Panora firefighters were on the scene of the fire at the Savage home, with another 10-12 from Guthrie Center also on hand.
“We were with them all night, so we didn’t waste any time (in calling for aid), because everybody is tired out,” Harmann said. “We needed to get them here to help us out, and I know they are just as tired, too. Obviously this is not the tragedy the other scene was, and everyone is grateful for that.”
Panora, Guthrie County and Iowa State Patrol law enforcement closed off Second St. to allow the exhausted firefighters unhindered access to the scene.
“It looks like this started on the outside of the home, on the south side, and then got up in the attic, which means it is probably electrical, but we don’t know that for sure,” Harmann said. “There is a lot of smoke damage, and water damage, but I don’t know how to estimate that total amount of damage. No home fire is a good thing, but we had this under control pretty early and no one was hurt, which is always the biggest thing.”
