Buena Vista County Emergency Management Agency

10/30/2026

***Election Day Message from the Buena Vista County Auditor's Office***
Due to road construction on N14, on Election Day (11/3/26), voters in the CFNP precinct coming from the south to vote at the City Hall in Albert City must follow the detour signs.
Buena Vista County Auditor

10/30/2026

***Election Day Message from the Buena Vista County Auditor's Office***
Due to road construction on N14, on Election Day (11/3/26), voters in the CFNP precinct coming from the south to vote at the City Hall in Albert City must follow the detour signs.
Buena Vista County Auditor

Send a message to learn more

09/30/2026

On Monday night, Buena Vista County Fire Departments participated in a full-scale exercise that tested their abilities to deal with hazardous materials, incident command, casualties, and extrications. We want to thank the following for providing services or assistance: Buena Vista County Fair for use of the fairgrounds; Stockton Towing for hauling a bus and tipping it over for us, as well as providing education; Alex Air Apparatus for education on site; Cherokee County, IA Emergency Management Agency for use of training props; Dustin Klatt and Klatt Towing for providing and hauling training props; Sioux County, Iowa Emergency Management for drone coverage; and AgState for providing training props and information. It takes a team to make these trainings happen, and Alta Firemen's Association was very willing to host and help plan. It was a great night of training and learning to continuously improve response within Buena Vista County. Thank you to our responders for giving their time for training. A special thank you to the Chief's wife, Heidi, for grilling the burgers, and to Alie Sievers for taking photos because I forget to do that!
Albert City Fire & Rescue City Of Marathon Sioux Rapids Fire Department Storm Lake Fire Department Rembrandt Firefighters Association

09/29/2026

A sneak peek of our training last night for Buena Vista County fire departments in Alta. Big thanks to Stockton Towing for providing the bus and positioning it to allow responders to get experience using their rescue tools. I will post more pictures tomorrow of the training. One more example of the time and effort our volunteer responders put in to help out all of our communities!

08/21/2026

FREE MMR VACCINES FOR ALL AGES!

As measles makes its way into Iowa, BV County Public Health will be offering FREE IMMUNIZATIONS for MEASLES.

Adults=FREE MMR VACCINE
Kids=FREE MMR VACCINE

There is NO cost associated for an MMR VACCINE when you visit us at Buena Vista County Public Health and Home Care!

Unsure of your vaccination status? Give us a call at 712-749-2548 and we can HELP determine if you need a vaccine to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community.

08/21/2026

If you live in Newell, please stop all water usage!

Send a message to learn more

08/17/2026

The Graeber-Rowe American Legion Post in Sioux Rapids is so thankful to be the recipient of grant funding from Buena Vista County Foundation that paid for half of the cost to replace their flood damaged flooring. The new flooring will withstand many years of use and even an occasional flood.

08/10/2026

8/10/26: With the potential for severe weather overnight (2am to 5am), it is a good idea to review some basic safety information.
📢 Sirens are intended for outdoor warning. You cannot rely on hearing them when indoors. When severe weather happens, cell towers can go down, TV and radio stations can have issues as well. For this reason, we recommend having multiple ways to obtain weather information, including:
✅A NOAA weather radio with battery backup
✅Keeping aware of weather by listening to local radio stations
✅Keeping aware by watching local market TV stations
✅Finding a weather alert app that you like and download it.
✅Signing up for text and email alerts through BV Alerts at:
https://entry.inspironlogistics.com/buena_vista_ia/wens.cfm

📢 Understanding the siren policy is key. The sirens in Buena Vista County will be activated for any of the following conditions:
🌪️When the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls issues a tornado warning. All communities that are in the warning polygon will have their sirens activated.
🌩️ When the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls issues a severe thunderstorm warning indicating that we can expect winds of 80 mph or greater, the sirens are activated. High winds can do as much damage as a tornado.
🚨 When a public safety agency requests that sirens be activated based upon their observations while weather spotting. 🚒🚓🚑

Have a plan for where you will go during severe weather. When weather happens, you don't always have a lot of time. Having a severe weather safety plan could save your life.

Sign up here for Buena Vista County Alerts! In the event of an emergency or severe weather condition, an alert will be sent to the phone number and/or email address provided by voice, text and/or email. This is a free service provided by Buena Vista County, however, normal message fees may apply. To...

08/07/2026

Last night Buena Vista County fire departments practiced using one of the dry hydrants. Dry hydrants allow fire departments to draft large quantities of water from ponds or lakes to use in fire fighting. Our fire departments give their time to train to improve their response to all types of incidents. This results in better outcomes for those affected. Rembrandt Firefighters Association Alta Firemen's Association Storm Lake Fire Department Sioux Rapids Fire Department Albert City Fire & Rescue

07/26/2026

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Warning
National Weather Service Sioux Falls SD
949 PM CDT Sat Jul 25 2026

The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...
Cherokee County in northwestern Iowa...
Northeastern Woodbury County in west central Iowa...
Sioux County in northwestern Iowa...
Plymouth County in northwestern Iowa...
Western Buena Vista County in northwestern Iowa...
Southern Clay County in northwestern Iowa...
O'Brien County in northwestern Iowa...
Northwestern Ida County in west central Iowa...
Union County in southeastern South Dakota...

* Until 1030 PM CDT.

* At 948 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line
extending from near Primghar to near Marcus to near Hinton, moving
southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Public.

IMPACT...Expect considerable tree damage. Damage is likely to
mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.

* Severe thunderstorms will be near...
Marcus, Hinton, Sutherland, Cleghorn, and Larrabee around 955 PM
CDT.
Cherokee, Kingsley, and Lawton around 1000 PM CDT.
Moville, Pierson, Peterson, and Quimby around 1005 PM CDT.

Other locations in the path of these severe thunderstorms include
Aurelia, Washta, Linn Grove, Correctionville, Sioux Rapids and Alta.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a
building.