An explosion this morning heavily damaged a Cedar Falls Utilities facility. Cedar Falls Fire Rescue officials confirmed the explosion occurred at a back-up electrical generation facility around 10:00 A.M. The explosion was heard throughout Cedar Falls, up to four miles from the site.

Fire Chief John Schilling says they received numerous calls from the public. “I would venture to guess well over 100 calls. I was sitting at city hall about two miles from here and it shook the building,” Schilling says.

Cedar Falls Utilities spokeswoman Betty Zeman says two CFU employees were performing maintenance duties at the site when the blast occurred. The two men were identified as Steve Balthazor and Kevin DeSerano. They were treated at the scene, but did not require additional medical services.

Zeman says the explosion damaged about half of the building. She says it appears that all the property damage was confined to the utility company property. The cause of the explosion has not been determined.

Zeeman says the facility is a backup system and the damage will not affect the company’s ability to generate power for Cedar Falls.

By Scott Fenzloff, KCNZ, Cedar Falls