Firefighters from a half dozen area departments battled a blaze at a storage building in Hawarden, Iowa overnight.

The fire broke out about 10:30 PM and fire crews battled the blaze for more than five and a half hours. Hawarden Fire Chief Jon Strong says a farmers elevator used half of it for storage and the other half was used by a welding company, also for storage.

He says there were vehicles and loaders that burned up and it was a total loss on everything."...with damages expected in the several thousands of dollars.

The state fire marshall is scheduled to arrive on Thursday to investigate. There were no injuries.

Fire departments that responded included: Hawarden, Akron, Ireton, Sioux Center, Alcester, South Dakota and Hudson, South Dakota.

SIOUX COUNTY AUTHORITIES ARE INVESTIGATING A SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE COUNTY NEAR ROCK VALLEY THIS MORNING.

THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE CONFIRMS THERE WERE AROUND 20 STUDENTS ON THE BUS WHEN IT ROLLED OVER AND SOME MINOR INJURIES WERE REPORTED.

THEY AREN'T RELEASING ANY OTHER DETAILS AT THIS TIME.

THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN IOWA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS DECLINED AGAIN THIS FALL.

STATE EDUCATION DIRECTOR JASON GLASS SAYS HIS AGENCY ORIGINALLY PREDICTED AN INCREASE IN STATE K THROUGH 12 ENROLLMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TEN YEARS:

BUT ALISON BENSON OF THE SIOUX CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT SAYS LOCAL ENROLLMENT WAS ACTUALLY DOWN HERE ALSO:

    
BENSON SAYS ENROLLMENT IS STILL HIGHER THAN A FEW YEARS AGO, THANKS TO A 150 STUDENT INCREASE TWO YEARS AGO.

IOWA CENSUS FIGURES SHOW 57% OF CHILDREN UNDER AGE FIVE LIVE IN THE 13 LARGEST COUNTIES.
 

(RADIO IOWA CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT)