It might be one of the be the earliest times that a Door County fire department has been called on to fight a grass fire. Thursday afternoon, sparks from a burning barrel was the apparent cause of the fire in a ditch near the barrel at 8903 County J in Brussels. The Brussels-Union-Gardner Fire Department sent a brush truck and two firemen to the scene. They found that the property owner had knocked down most of the flames with a garden hose. The fire crew finished the job and left the scene about 15 minutes after the initial page at 4:36PM. Assistant Fire Chief Jim Wautier said it’s a somewhat odd occurrence, especially given the snow on the ground, but it’s also a reminder that, if the conditions are right, grass fires can happen at practically any time of the year.
Two units and four Sturgeon Bay firefighters were sent to an apartment on south Hudson Avenue Thursday evening after receiving the report of a dryer that was smoking. The call came in at 7:36PM and the fire crew encountered heavy smoke at the residence. The dryer was taken outside where its contents was removed and it was allowed to cool down. The occupants, who left the apartment prior to the fire department’s arrival, said the dryer, which had not been run recently, started smoking shortly after a load was put in, but there were no flames. When firefighters checked out the appliance, they found that the vent was completely plugged. They used smoke ejectors to air out the apartment, but, because of the strong smoke smell, suggested that the occupants stay somewhere else overnight. The Sturgeon Bay fire crew cleared the scene at 8:52PM.
