Fairfield council votes to demolish home

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield City Council voted to demolish a dilapidated building on South Sixth Street instead of burning it down as part of a training exercise for firefighters.

The city owns the home at 504 South Sixth St., and during their meeting Monday night, the members of the city council discussed the best way of disposing of the home. Fairfield City Administrator Doug Reinert said city staff had explored a couple of options, and saw that they could save money by burning down the house and then hauling away the remaining debris. Plus, this controlled burn could be used as a training exercise training exercise for Fairfield’s fire department, surrounding fire departments and other first-responders.

Reinert estimated that demolishing the building would cost between $12,000 and $15,000, whereas burning down the house and hauling away the debris would cost the city about $3,000.

Reinert said he discussed the idea of burning down the house with Fairfield Fire Chief Brett Ferrel, who said the fire department would burn it down if instructed to by the council, but expressed some reservations about doing so, such as push-back from neighbors about the smoke, or wind gusts carrying the fire outside the home.

“There are so many risks that he was concerned about,” Reinert said about his conversation with Ferrel. “If the conditions weren’t right, it would just fill the town with smoke.”

Council member Doug Flournoy commented that the unpleasantness of the smoke and the possibility of the fire getting out of control were not worth the $10,000 in savings.

“You don’t know what kind of health problems the people in the area have,” Flournoy said.

The council voted unanimously 7-0 to have the house demolished.

Reinert told The Union that the city acquired this property after its owners contacted the city to say they could no longer take care of it.

“We helped that individual find appropriate housing,” Reinert said. “The owner gave the property to the city because they just couldn’t maintain it.”

Reinert said city staff discovered that, though the building looks stable on the outside, the interior was a different story.

“People wanted to go inside, and we didn’t even want to entertain the idea of them going in and falling through the floor or having the building collapse,” he said. “The property owner did the best they could maintaining the outside, but internally, it’s too far gone.”

Reinert said the council and city staff will discuss what to do with the lot once the building is demolished. He said the city may sell it, or arrange to turn it over to a nonprofit like Habitat for Humanity. Whatever happens, the city wants to see another house built at that location.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com