Epworth Fire returns for 2nd Fire

At 1:02 a.m. the Epworth Fire Department was paged out for a fully engulfed structure fire at 112 1st Street SW in Epworth. First arriving officers and apparatus found heavy fire in the attic area extending through the roof in the center of the house. This is the same residence of a previous fire 14 hours earlier in which the attic was damaged due to an overloaded electrical circuit. The fire was too advanced for any interior attacks so a defensive attack was set up in which a total of five hose lines were operating. The occupants of the residence were moved to another campus building after the first fire so no one was in the residence at the time of the fire and no one was injured. Investigation determined that power was restored to the residence earlier in the day to all of the circuits except the overloaded circuit that caused the initial fire. The residence was deemed a total loss with a preliminary damage estimate at $150,000.00. 28 Epworth firefighters responded to the call. Also assisting at the scene were the Dubuque County Sheriffs Office and Alliant Energy. Firefighters remained on scene monitoring for flare ups for seven hours. The fire cause has been ruled accidental and the most likely cause has been determined that electricity was restored to an adjacent circuit that most probably sustained damage during the first fire.