Monday’s high winds created a brush fire in the Town of Gibraltar Monday afternoon. Shortly before 3:30 pm, a fire call was made for a brush fire on County Road “EE”, just west of Longview Road. The property owner had a burn permit and conducted a brush pile fire last Thursday, after which he concluded the fire by covering it with dirt. Four days later, Monday’s high winds somehow worked its way through the dirt and brought some embers back to life. The wind eventually carried a spark to a leaf pile almost 30 feet away starting it on fire. Gibraltar Deputy Fire Chief Jared Anderson reports that when they arrived the area burning was about 300 square yards of leaves and mulch. The response consisted of 20 firefighters and 10 trucks, and they had assistance from the fire departments of Ephraim and Baileys Harbor. They used up to 10,000 gallons of water and the entire operation took about 3 hours. Anderson also commented how the property owner had a “Kubota” tractor which added considerable assistance with extinguishing the fire.
