PELLA, Iowa — A fire broke out at a law firm early Saturday morning causing the roof and some of the walls to collapse, according to Pella Fire Department Chief Randy Bogaard.
Bogaard said the fire started at AG Law around 2:30 a.m. as snow was still falling.
"The city street crews were just starting, so that created some issues just trying to get here and get set up," Bogaard said. "So hats off to them, they did a great job."
He said plow crews heard about the fire over their radio system.
"[They] were able to get here and plow the streets for us, plow the way here, plow in front of the hydrants, plow by the station to get our trucks out," Bogaard said. "So at that point, one of the biggest issues was just getting our people to the station, and we got guys coming from outside of town, and they said 'yeah, it was quite a treacherous journey getting in.'"
Crews prevented the fire from spreading through the entire building and extinguished it around 9 a.m., but they knew it would rekindle. The fire department was back on the scene Saturday afternoon to finish putting it out.
The fire also damaged a neighboring building, Allen & Neumann Family Dentistry. The back part of their office space is "a complete loss," the business said in a Facebook post.
"We will be temporarily closed as we start our remodeling and rebuilding process," the post read. "Fortunately, our community has embraced us and we will be able to continue seeing patients soon in Pella at a temporary location."
WATCH | Story County organization working to help homeless people struggles to meet demand