County firefighters spent the weekend working one derailment and two structure fires, one of which destroyed Ogden’s grocery store. It all began approximately 6:00 Saturday evening when a westbound train derailed in downtown Boone – right around the corner from the fire department. According to Fire Chief Justin Adams, six railcars came off the tracks, taking down electrical lines, with one car landing on top of a gas main. Several vehicles in a Union Pacific parking lot were also damaged. Because of the resulting gas leak, Dollar General, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and Hy-Vee were evacuated, although that grocery store reopened around 11 p.m. No one was injured by the derailment, which is under investigation by the U.P.
The Ogden Fire Department was on the scene of the derailment before it was called by its firefighters who remained back home. Residents there noticed smoke coming from Ogden Mart on West Walnut Street about 8:00 and the intense blaze that soon enveloped the grocery store collapsed it less than two hours later. Again, no injuries were reported, as nobody was in the building at the time of the fire, but Ogden Mart and an adjacent structure were destroyed. Assistance was provided by fire departments from surrounding communities such as Gilbert, Stratford, and Boone, who still had fire personnel at the derailment.
Then near midnight, the Boone Fire Department responded to a commercial blaze at the southwest corner of McPherson and West First Street. Firefighters were on that scene for almost four hours, preserving the structure. In a Facebook post, Chief Adams writes, “Even though they are dead tired and hungry, my guys busted their asses and persevered.”
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