Four-bay garage destroyed by fire

A fire that destroyed a large, four-bay garage on Kern Lane in Arbor Vitae Sunday caused an estimated $400,000 in damage.

Arbor Vitae fire chief Mike Van Meter said Monday the investigation into the cause of the fire is being handled by the Vilas County sheriff’s office and the state fire marshal’s office. 

“With the amount of fire damage to the building, a cause is going to be pretty hard to determine,” he said. “That fire, when we got there, it had a significant head start on us.”

The black plume of smoke from the fire could be seen for miles. Van Meter said he received a text message from a friend in Manitowish Waters telling him the smoke could be seen from Rest Lake. 

“That fire had a pretty good head start before 911 was initiated,” he said. 

That was one of the reasons he wasted no time activating the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS), which sent firefighters and trucks from all over the area to the scene. 

Water for tankers was pulled from Brandy Lake and also from Lakeland Sanitary District hydrants.

Early reports stated there were small explosions inside the structure. 

“That building had several LP tanks of various sizes in it, oxygen and acetylene bottles popping off in there,” Van Meter said. “A lot of pressure reliefs were going off when we got there ... they definitely had a lot of fuel there.”

In addition to the LP tanks, acetylene bottles and waste oil drums, Van Meter said there were also vehicles inside the building that were on fire. 

“Any kind of bad stuff that you don’t want to have in a fire was in that fire,” he said. “We had some concerns about runoff from the fuel so there was some dyking and berming setup at the top of the hill to contain that stuff so it wouldn’t make its way down to the highway.”

When he arrived, Van Meter did a walkaround assessment.

“In my 26 years with the department, I have never seen a fire produce radiant heat like that,” he said. “When I got up to the top of the hill, I actually had to cover my face completely to walk across the front of the building ... that building was generating some radiant heat like I’ve never seen.”

Van Meter said the concern was for the building nearby that houses the Tender Touch Massage business. 

“That building was taking a lot of radiant heat,” he said. “Water was put on that building.”

Van Meter noted there was some “fantastic teamwork” by all the firefighting personnel who responded through the MABAS, and he thankful there was no wind. 

“If there would have been wind, especially out of the north, we would have had big, big, problems,” Van Meter said. “As much as those guys hate to fight fire in hot, humid, stagnant air, it actually probably saved us from having a greater loss if we had any kind of a breeze or wind.”

A stretch of both southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 51 was shut down to allow for easy access of fire trucks. It was reopened at 11:30 Sunday night, when Van Meter said the scene was cleared. 

“Everybody was on their ‘A game,’” he said. “The MABAS worked great. I’m a huge proponent of it. I can’t say enough about it. It’s a tool that is there and in place to save you from trying figure out where you’re going get more resources from.”

There were no injuries reported in connection with Sunday’s fire. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].