Ottumwa Courier Week 13

Brush Fire

    Friday afternoon a large brush fire broke out near the Ottumwa Water Pollution Control Facility on the east side of town. 

    Both the Wapello County Rural Fire Department and Ottumwa Fire Department were called to the scene of the fire. The vacant land boarders a small neighborhood and a wildlife refuge area, no injuries or property damage was reported. 

    The firefighters worked to contain the fire around the edges to keep it from spreading and then focused on putting out the blaze in the middle. 

    “I’m thinking the advance has stopped, but the interior is continuing to burn,” Cheif Bryan Ziegler said. “We will be here as long as it takes to make sure the area is stable.”

Features 

Daniel Palmer, left, and Dayton Roberts raise the flag Thursday before school stared at Horce Mann Elementary. Palmer and Roberts are both in fourth grade and have had the duty of raising the flag each morning for the whole year before going in for breakfast. Along with raising the flag each day there are students responsible for crossing guard duty, while accompanied by an adult, and lowering and folding the flag at the end of each day.

Children in the crowd cover their ears as monster trucks crushed cars Saturday during the monster truck rally at the Bridge View Center. The show included the audience getting up close and personal with the trucks and meeting the drivers before the show. 

Roy Lake feeds bread to geese Wednesday at Ottumwa Park. Roy and his wife Linda have been coming to the park to feed geese and other animals for many years. “We come three or four times a week to feed the animals,” Roy said. “Linda really gets a kick out of it, we both have fun.” The couple is from Glenwood, Mo and comes to Ottumwa to shop, get dinner and stop by the park.

Pete Lind cares for plants Tuesday at the Centerville Greenhouses and Nursery. The company was bought by Pete’s grandfather in 1972 and continues to be run by family members. They provide wholesale plants to garden shops in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, as well as to the general public.