Fire destroys heirlooms; memories

You can’t replace memories.

Dawn Brockhaus learned that the hard way this past weekend when her family’s garage building on Jolly Ave. caught fire Saturday evening destroying the structure and all its contents.

The finished storage building located at W5518 Jolly Ave. and its contents were destroyed in a town of Medford blaze Saturday evening.

“We are devastated our shed is a complete loss and it will be a huge financial loss to us,” said Brockhaus.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that feeling I felt when I came down the road seeing it engulfed in flames,” she said.

“We have lost so many items including our jet boat, our son’s collector car, family kayaks, all our tools, entire hunting gear and snowmobile items, camping supplies, snowmobiles, appliances, furniture, totes and totes of household items. It’s a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach,” she said.

“It was literally packed full. When I think of the handmade quilts from my grandmother or my special books to pass down to my grandchildren it makes me sick,” she said.

“Many things that can never be replaced. We spent a lifetime working hard for the things we love and enjoy and they all burned up in a few hours,” she said, noting that while it is a huge loss, fortunately no one was hurt. “We have to trust everything happens for a reason,” she said. According to assistant fire chief Mike Radlinger, at 4:58 p.m. on Saturday, December 4, firefighters from the Medford Area Fire Department responded to a structure fire at the location and upon arrival found heavy fire on the north side of the detached 50x40 finished garage building. Both Rib Lake and Stetsonville Fire Departments provided mutual aid with tenders to ferry water to the fire scene and Stetsonville also helped with providing manpower at the scene.

According to Radlinger, the cause of the fire remains under investigation. He noted that the portion of the building where the fire was heaviest had an outdoor wood furnace located near it.

Firefighters remained on the scene for about 5 hours returning to the fire hall at about 10 p.m. Saturday night.