(Spirit Lake)– Things haven’t slowed down for the Spirit Lake Fire Department.
Firefighters responded to two calls within about 90 minutes of each other late Thursday night and early this (Friday) morning.
The first call came in around 11:00 p.m. Thursday when firefighters were called to a report of a natural gas leak and small fire in a house at 2104 Erie Avenue in Spirit Lake. Fire Chief Wally Jorgenson says a small fire had broken out in an oven. He says firefighters quickly shut off a gas valve behind the stove before the fire could grow. Jorgenson says there was no damage to speak of. Firefighters were on the scene about 40 minutes.
Jorgenson says the second call came in around 12:30 a.m. this (Friday) morning from the Estherville Fire Department which requested mutual assistance from the Spirit Lake Fire Department for its aerial truck to assist in battling a large house fire on sixth street north of the Emmet County Courthouse in Estherville.
It was the first time the Spirit Lake Fire Department aerial truck was put into use in a real-time scenario, and Jorgenson says everything worked exactly the way it’s supposed to. He says they were able to quickly contain the fire by attacking it from above.
The owners of the house, which was totally destroyed, were home at the time the blaze broke out. They got out uninjurred.
Jorgenson says the sub-zero temperatures made fighting the fire miserable. He says everything instantly was covered with several inches of ice.
The State Fire Marshall’s Office has been called to investigate a possible cause.
Spirit Lake firefighters were on the scene until about 3:00 a.m. while Estherville firefighters stood by much longer to watch for flare-ups.
