Spirit Lake Walmart catches fire early Thursday

Editor’s note: The headline of this story has been updated to provide the correct location of the fire. We regret the error.

SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (KELO) — A fire in a Spirit Lake Walmart had dispatchers active early Thursday morning.

At approximately 1:33 a.m. Thursday, the Spirit Lake Community Fire Department was called to report a water flow fire alarm at Walmart in Spirit Lake. The call was updated by law enforcement
as a possible fire in the automotive section.

Upon arrival, crews found heavy smoke and sprinklers activated. Crews located the source of the fire and quickly extinguished it. A battery-operated machine that had its batteries in thermal runaway was located and the large battery modules were removed from the building.

Crews worked with Walmart employees to shut down the sprinklers and ventilate
the smoke from the building.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

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