June 30, 2022 at 11:05 a.m.
Waste Management fire triggers MABAS
Taylor: 'Hard to say what caused it'
Waste Management fire triggers MABAS
The situation was serious enough to have the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) activated which meant firefighters and equipment from Woodruff, Minocqua, Lake Tomahawk, Arbor Vitae, Newbold, Boulder Junction, St. Germain, Hazelhurst, Little Rice, Sugar Camp, Three Lakes, Lac du Flambeau, Pelican, Nokomis, Eagle River, Manitowish Waters, Cassian, Pine Lake and Crescent were dispatched and responded.
"Woodruff was first on scene because of the proximity to our fire station," Woodruff fire chief Victor Gee said. "We got going with the people and equipment that we had right away and then once Minocqua rolled in a few minutes later, command was handed over to them."
He said there were definitely flames in the large building where the garbage trucks dump their loads and the Waste Management compactor is.
Gee said there were flames on the building's south side and the area of the building where the compactor itself is "was completely burning."
"We were over a 100 feet away because we couldn't quite reach the building with the aerial," he said. "We were getting heat off the building then."
Minocqua fire chief Luke Taylor said there wasn't a "specific cause" of the fire pinpointed.
"Some were calling it a 'hot load' where possibly some hot material was dumped off from a truck," he said. "Others at the facility said 'No, it wasn't a hot load' but maybe lithium batteries or something like that. It's hard to say what caused it but it was something that was dumped off by the last garbage truck."
Taylor said indications are the garbage fire "really got going" anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half after "it got dumped."
"No garbage trucks were in there, no people were injured, there's really not that much loss," he said. "The building is standing ... although compromised by heat."
Taylor said the Minocqua and Woodruff firefighters were the last to be released from the scene around 5:30 p.m. Monday.
"There were a lot of people there so we were trying to get the departments furthest from home out of there first," he said, adding Minocqua firefighters were called to the scene again at 9 p.m. Monday.
"There was some smoldering in the compactor and we were there until around 10:30 adding water on a couple of hot spots," Taylor said.
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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