Blaze destroys town of Cleveland home

On Saturday, July 22, 2023 at 1:31 a.m., the Gilman Rural Fire Department was dispatched for a house fire at the address of W14550 Division Road in the town of Cleveland, with all residents reported out of the building. The property belongs to Scott A Capelle.

Per fire department policy Jump River Fire was requested for a full response. When the first responding fire officer arrived on scene, heavy smoke and flames were reported coming from most of the home. Based on temperatures, size of fire and limited accessibility to home mutual aid of tenders and personnel were requested from Sheldon and Cornell Area Fire Departments.

After an extended external and limited internal suppression effort, Incident Command made the request for an excavator to remove the steel roof to safely and completely extinguish the fire. At 5:21 a.m. the fire was deemed under control and the additional fire departments were released. Gilman Fire was clear of the scene at 6:05 a.m. and after cleanup and restocking trucks was marked back in service at 8:03 a.m.

The fire investigation concluded that the fire started in a shorted outlet located in the kitchen behind the stove. The home was deemed a total loss and the Red Cross was assisting the family.

The homeowner was injured trying to extinguish the fire and was transported to Medford Aspirus Hospital for their injury and was treated and released later that day.

Gilman fire chief Brian Welsh extended thanks on behalf of the Gilman Rural Fire Department to thank Jump River Fire, Sheldon Fire, Cornell Area Fire, Gilman and Sheldon Ambulances, Taylor County Sheriff, Taylor County Dispatch, Taylor County Emergency Management, Jump River Electric, Trawicki and Son, LLC – Excavating, Gilman Corner Store for cooking pizzas and Kwik Trip- Thorp for donation of food and refreshments.