Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential Clearfield, IA – Sprinkler system limits spread of nursing home fire; March 12, 2018 viking210 Residents of a Taylor County nursing home were evacuated after fire broke out early Thursday morning. Firefighters from four area departments responded to the fire at the Clearview Homes at 202 Jefferson Street. Clearfield Assistant Fire Chief Clifford Briggs tells KMA News the fire was reported shortly before 6:15 a.m. “We’re a rural fire department,” said Briggs. “We already had arrangements made with other surrounding departments to come. Lenox actually made it up here, and had already entered before we got here. At the time they made entry, we had smoke and sprinklers going. It was kind of smoky.” Up to 40 residents were in the nursing home at the time of the fire. Briggs says the fire was located in a resident’s room inside the facility’s western portion. “All the residents had made it out at this time,” he said. “They made it out prior to us even making entry. They were all safe and across the street at a local funeral home. Once we did an overhaul of the room, we found an area that was on fire. We pulled the ceiling down out of the resident room, and extinguished all flames.” Briggs credits the home’s sprinkler system for preventing the fire’s spread. Firefighters from Sharpsburg, Diagonal and Lenox assisted Clearfield’s department at the scene. Corning’s department was also on standby. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Briggs says the State Fire Marshal has been notified of the incident.
