Fire Breaks Out At Jackson County Transfer Station

A fire broke out at the Jackson County Transfer Station near Andrew yesterday. At 5:08 PM a call came into the Law center from a worker at the Andrew Jackson Care across the road. They reported seeing black smoke rolling out of the building. Andrew fire responded to the Structure Fire where the Transfer Station was fully engulfed in flames which melted everything in the building. They had to call in other departments nearby to help with the fire, including:  Baldwin Fire, Bellevue Fire, Delmar Fire,  LaMotte Fire, Springbrook Fire, Maquoketa Fire, Miles Fire, Preston Fire. A total of 60-70 firefighters responded. Jackson County Secondary Roads, Alliant Energy, and Bellevue Ambulance responded also. They had used an estimated 300,000 gallons of water to fight this fire and used water from the City of Andrew which they had to stop using to allow the water tower to fill back up so they were able to use a nearby farm pond. They spent 5.5 hours fighting the fire and the windy conditions yesterday made it very hard for them to fight this fire, and no one was injured. The Andrew Fire Chief Keith DeMoss unofficially estimated damages at least $1.5 Million and had deemed it a total loss.  There is no word on the cause of the fire.  At this time due to the fire the Jackson County Transfer Station will be closed until further notice. In the meantime residents of Jackson County can take their garbage to either the Dubuque County or Clinton County Transfer stations.  This is the second fire to occur at the Jackson County Transfer Station in 12 years.