‘Suspicious’ fire at Newton Inn

Two fires that had occurred more than 20 minutes apart from each other Thursday night in Newton, including one at the defunct Newton Inn, were labeled suspicious by authorities and are still under investigation.

Both the Newton Police Department and Newton Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire at approximately 10:22 p.m. in a parking lot near 904 N. Sixth Ave. E.

The car was discovered fully engulfed in flames and was safely extinguished by fire crews, according to a Friday morning press release from Newton Police Lt. Wayne Winchell. No one was injured.

While safety officials were resolving that issue and searching for the car’s owner, police and firefighters received another call at 10:48 p.m. of a building on fire about two-and-a-half miles southwest of the first scene.

Upon arrival, area police and firefighters discovered a top floor room near the southeast corner of Newton Inn, 2000 W. 18th St. S., was on fire. Newton Police said no people were present at the time and the fire was safely extinguished.

Newton Daily News witnessed fire crews depart the scene at around midnight.

Authorities are suspicious of the timings of both fires.

Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik said the end room of the Newton Inn is “all burnt out” and by the time he arrived on the scene it was “fully engulfed.” To his knowledge, Wellik believes there is no electricity provided to any rooms at the Newton Inn.

“Suspicious timing that they were both about the same time,” Wellik said. “Sometimes they call it ‘diversionary,’ where they’re trying to draw people away from something. It’s hard to know.”

Recently, the Newton City Council voted 4-2 to approve a controversial $495,000 purchase agreement to buy the Newton Inn, which city staff identified as a prime candidate for its Commercial D&D Program.

The purchase caused a stir among residents at the Monday night council meeting. Newton Inn was built in 1971 and has recently been known to attract criminal activity and had reportedly met the bare minimum of safety standards by inspectors.

Responses by the Newton Police Department to the 260,053-square-foot hotel have dramatically increased in the span of two years.

In 2017, Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess said officers reported to the Newton Inn about 37 times and made five arrests. In 2018, police responded to 82 calls and, again, made five arrests.

So far this year, officers were called to Newton Inn about 139 times and made 12 arrests.

Anyone with information pertaining to these fires are encouraged to contact to the Newton Police Department at 641-791-0850.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com