A Burlington woman is facing criminal charges for lighting a fire on the porch of house she believed was her friend’s.

The incident occurred just after 4:30pm on March 19, 2024. The resident of 2224 Vineyard in Burlington called DESCOM after she received an alert of motion from her security camera. The resident, who was not home at the time, watched video from her security camera as a woman lit a fire on the resident’s porch. The resident said she did not know the woman and had never seen her before.

Officers from the Burlington Police Department and Burlington Fire Department were dispatched to 2224 Vineyard and when they arrived, they found Michelle Young, 46, standing on the porch. Young told officers her friend lived there and admitted to setting a fire on the porch. Young told officers the items she set on fire were miscellaneous items she picked up while walking in the area.

Officers were able to view the video from the security camera and positively identified Young as the person who had started the fire. Michelle Young was arrested and during her arrest, officers discovered Young was in possession of drug paraphernalia. The fired department quickly extinguished the fire and there was minimal damage to the porch.

Young was charged with Reckless Use of Fire, a serious misdemeanor, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor.

Henry County Emergency Management held a simulated drill on Tuesday morning which aimed at creating cohesion and communication between agencies while fixing the issue at hand. With atleast 8 counties represented through fire departments, EMS, emergency management, and the Henry County Sheriff, this simulation saw many heads join together for one common issue.

After a meeting at the Emergency Management building in Mount Pleasant to lay out the plan, everybody got to work. The simulated scenario was a gas explosion at a gas pipe near Yarmouth. Situated on the Henry County/Des Moines County line, this was a large scale exercise. Measures were taken for safety, such as establishing a perimeter far away from the gas, wrangling cattle, and releasing messages to be sent out to every phone within a certain radius.

This proved to be great training for all those involved. The importance of an exercise like this was shown as it allows responders to better understand what to do in an event of a major emergency.

A reminder that a large full-scale exercise will take place next Wednesday, March 27^th, in New London. “Operation Prom” is an immersive event which will bring the realities of prom season to life for the students involved. Highschoolers will interact with police, firefighters, medical personnel, life flight crews, and even funeral home representatives.

This is designed to create awareness and responsible decision-making for students.

Some of the material may be graphic in nature.

Today at 10:30 AM the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will release 1,000 Rainbow Trout Fish at East Lake Park’s Lake, near the Hayward Shelter House.

Children under 16 may fish for and possess trout if they fish with an adult who already has a valid fishing license and trout fee. However, their combined daily limit is five trout.

Children under 16 may purchase their own trout fee, which allows them to keep their own five trout limit.

Iowa Fishing licenses $22.00

Trout Stamp $12.00

Licenses may be purchased at Wal-Mart, on the Iowa DNR website, or in person at any other Iowa DNR license vendors.

A Fort Madison woman and Missouri man were arrested in Burlington after a traffic stop revealed a large quantity of drugs, cash, and a handgun.

Just after 5pm on March 18, 2024 BPD officers stopped a vehicle for an equipment violation in the 500-block of South 9th Street. During the traffic stop, a BPD K-9 team performed an “open-air sniff” of the vehicle. The K-9 alerted on the rear driver’s side door. During a search of the vehicle, officers located almost three quarters pound of suspected methamphetamine, over $7000 of U.S. currency, and a loaded 9mm handgun.

During the investigation, officers discovered both, the female driver and the male passenger, were owners of the bags the methamphetamine was located within. Besides the methamphetamine located in the bag belonging to the female driver, officers located 25 pills identified to be Alprazolam. Additionally, the handgun was located on top of the bag belonging to the male passenger, on the front passenger’s floorboard, where the male passenger had been sitting.

The female driver was identified as Jessica Mae Dettmers, 36, of Fort Madison, Iowa. The male passenger was identified as Blake Joshua Briggs, 23, of Wayland, Missouri.

Both Dettmers and Briggs were charged with Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Deliver and Failure to Affix Drug Tax Stamp – Methamphetamine.

Additionally, Briggs was charged with Persons Ineligible to Possess a Firearm. Dettmers was also charged with Unlawful Possession of Prescription Medication and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp – Prescription Medication.