Spencer Fire Dept. responds to multiple fires in last week

The Spencer Fire Department urged the public to exercise caution as extremely dry conditions contributed to several recent fires.

As reported by Troy Shull on the fire department’s Facebook page, the Spencer Fire Department was dispatched to a barn fire Friday, March 15, on Century Road. The fire involved four structures that were a total loss. The fire also had extension into the grass and burned roughly two acres. Crews were on scene about four hours.

On Saturday, at 10:08 a.m., the fire department was dispatched to a rekindle at the barn fire from Friday afternoon.

“I had called this in as I found a hot spot I was uncomfortable with and wanted to address right away before it became a larger problem later on,” Shull wrote.

Firefighters were on scene approximately one hour.

At 1:53 p.m. Saturday, firefighters were dispatched to a structure fire on County Highway K.

“Upon arrival, the fire was pretty heavy on the south side of the house. The house was balloon frame type construction and the fire took over the house very fast. There were multiple structures in the surrounding area that made this fire a challenge to minimize the loss,” Shull wrote.

After going back to the station to repack and clean equipment, the fire had rekindled and the firefighters headed back to scene. There were hot embers deep in the basement that reignited the remnants of the house.

“Crews quickly put the fire out right away, but the pile kept reigniting and was a challenge to completely extinguish. We were finally able to do so several hours later,” Shull wrote.

Please see Fires, page 4 Fires,

from p. 1

The Spencer Fire Department was on scene a total of 11 hours.

“In the last week we’ve had two grass fires, two structure fires and two rekindles. Please be extremely cautious with fire safety during this fire ban. The ground is extremely dry and the winds are high as well,” Shull wrote in a Facebook post Sunday.

He extended his appreciation to the entities that assisted with the Friday call, including the Loyal Fire Department, Central Fire Department, Marathon County dispatch center, Clark County dispatch center and Salvation Army. He also extended appreciation to the Spencer Kwik Trip employees for paying for the pizza for the firefighters on Friday.

Additionally, Shull thanked those who rendered mutual aid on the Saturday afternoon call, including the Central Fire and EMS District, Loyal Fire Department, McMillan Fire Department, Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire and EMS District Commission, Clark County Sheriff’s Office and Marathon County Sheriff’s Office.