KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

An explosion leads to a massive amount of smoke and flames at a Western Iowa business.

The incident, at Schau Recycling, caught the company and its neighbors off guard.

"I heard what I thought was a sonic boom," said Brian Muhlbauer.

"I knew it either had to be a jet flying over or explosion," added Lonnie Heuton.

The rumbles were heard and felt blocks away. Heuton was in his office at Adam's Motors.

"The windows rattled. I was standing just two feet from the windows and they did rattle," he described.

Crews arrived to find flames shooting out from a 30-foot pile of scrap metal.

"It was hot. Blazin black. Flames shootin' high," added Muhlbauer.

This carnage of cars proved challenging for firefighters.

"You're also never entirely sure what kind of fire load is contained in a pile," said Cory Snowgren, the Denison Fire Chief/Marshal.

While it took 20 minutes to get the fire contained, crews were on the scene for over two hours. Snowgren said they stayed on the scene putting the fire out and making sure it didn't spread to nearby flammable equipment.

Snowgren determined that the fire was an accident, caused when a crane operator turned over a car in the pile. Snowgren believes vapors accumulated in a void space in that pile, sparking the blaze.

The Denison department was joined by crews from Dow City, Veil, and Deloit. One firefighter was briefly hospitalized after he twisted his knee in the scrap pile.

Gina Schau didn't want to comment on camera, but said the company's thankful for the volunteer firefighters' efforts.

The situation could have been a lot worse, especially considering 500 gallon fuel tank that sat just feet away from the fire. The company says no equipment or property was damaged, and even the iron itself can still be recycled.

Schau says the company started about 55-years ago. The Denison branch opened in 2009. It's main office is in Ida Grove.