Some sort of electrical malfunction is being blamed for a fire that damaged a home in the Baileys Harbor area on Saturday morning. The report of a house fire came in shortly after 11AM, just at about the time that the funeral for Baileys Harbor Assistant Fire Chief Willard Zak was about to begin at Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church. About three dozen firemen donned their turnout gear and went to the Thomas Pluff home on County A, in Baileys Harbor. They contained the fire to a couple of rooms, but there was significant smoke damage to the entire home. No one was at home when the fire broke out. Assisting the Baileys Harbor Fire Department were firefighters from the Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Gibraltar, Sister Bay-Liberty Grove, and Sturgeon Bay fire departments. The fire crews were on the scene for about three hours.
A mobile home in the Town of Gardner was destroyed by fire Sunday afternoon. The Brussels-Union-Gardner Fire Department responded to the fire call at the home owned by Christian Johnson on County CC. Initial reports indicated that a propane tank was burning and fire crews worked to minimize the damage to nearby trailers and out-building because of radiant heat. It appears that a small fire started to burn wood materials got out of hand and reached the trailer because of the dry conditions. Johnson, who called 911, attempted to put out the blaze, but was unable to do so. BUG firefighters initially left the scene at about 1:30PM, but returned a short time later after receiving the report of a flare-up. There were no injuries. No damage estimate is available.
Burning grass is being blamed for a fire that damaged an out-building Sunday at the Kevin Jandrin property on County D, in Brussels. The fire page came in shortly before 4PM and Brussels-Union-Gardner fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the blaze in the large shed, but the structure sustained fire damage. Some of its contents were removed. Jandrin said he had been burning grass behind the building and thought the fire was out when he saw the shed burning and called 911. Some of the people living on the property were checked out for smoke inhalation. The scene was cleared at about 5PM Sunday. Local fire departments have already responded to grass fires caused by sparks from burn barrels and brush and wood burns. Because of extremely dry conditions at this time of year, residents are reminded to have screens on burn barrels, a water source nearby, and to make sure that burning is not done under windy conditions.
