Last Saturday, a fire destroyed half a block of Maquoketa.. we didn't send anyone the first day, but I went with a reporter to cover the day after. The fire was still smoking more than 36 hours after it started, and not only did the firemen -- from 24 surrounding communities -- have to battle the fire, but deal with the subzero temperatures.. Read our coverage here and here. (Some great work came out of the Dubuque TH and the Quad City Times -- those photos are attached to the first story.)




It was a surreal scene, with ice covering everything -- the electric company worked through the morning to chip ice off the powerlines.


The Maquoketa volunteer fire department got back to work after a few hours' rest, getting their trucks cleaned up and thawed out, and rolling hoses.

To contain the fire, the interior walls had to be knocked down. They started sorting through the rubble and checking for hot spots as we were heading out of town..