Some 20 fire departments from Wisconsin and northern Illinois assisted Bristol Fire and Rescue with a fire at a Lake Shangri-la house Wednesday afternoon.
From a news release from Fire Chief John Niederer:
At 1322 hours on Wednesday, March 14th the Bristol Fire Department and the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to the 21200 Block of 117th Street in Bristol for the report of flames and smoke in a garage. Upon arrival, Bristol 5200 (Fire Chief) observed smoke and flames from the attached garage of a one and a half story residential structure and confirmed that all occupants had successfully evacuated the residence. Arriving Bristol Fire crews immediately deployed hose lines to the structure to conduct a defensive fire attack and to protect an exposure on the east side of the affected residence. Crews then transitioned to an offensive fire attack and entered the residence to mitigate additional loss. A Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Box Alarm (52-62) was initially requested to the Second Alarm level before being elevated to the Third Alarm level for water tenders only. The fire was declared under control approximately two hours after initial dispatch, the Box Alarm struck out, and all companies continued working prior to release by the on-scene incident command. The Kenosha County Fire Investigation Task Force was requested to assist with the cause and origin investigation. The Bristol Fire Department was assisted by our mutual aid partners from the Salem Lakes, Pleasant Prairie, Paris, Somers, Kenosha, Twin Lakes, Wheatland, Randall, City of Burlington and Kansasville Fire Departments in Wisconsin and the Newport Township, Antioch, Fox Lake, Grayslake, Lake Villa, Gurnee, Beach Park, Round Lake and Libertyville Fire Departments in Illinois. The Racine Fire Bell Club provided on-scene rehabilitation support to responding fire and rescue companies. The Bristol Fire Department encourages all homeowners to explore the options and benefits of residential sprinkler systems. Additional information can be obtained from the Bristol Fire Department or the National Fire Sprinkler Association. The Department also wishes to remind all home and business owners to conduct regular inspections and operational tests of smoke alarms.
Our original reporting on the fire is here.
I gotta ask…
Maybe someone knows?
“Bristol Fire Dept was assisted by our mutual aid partners from…”
TEN (10) Wis Fire Depts showed up for this?
Then I counted NINE (9) Illinois Fire Dept’s?
I gotta be reading this wrong… 19 Fire Depts for 1 house fire?
Which looked pretty much totaled after it was over-with.
If 19 Fire Depts came to assist,
Im thinking a more than 1/2 of them must have forgot the water?
–Or the reporter is describing it wrong (right?) Hopefully….
Or pray I read this all wrong
What was the cause of the fire or how and why did it start? Some people in the neighborhood heard and felt a thunder of explosion. Was anyone hurt?
KipDon – not everyone showing up had a tender. The MABAS brings in multiple chiefs, ambulances, tenders, engines, special equipment, etc. So not everybody is actively putting water on the fire. The guys switch out after so long, too. And on top of that, they have people do change of quarters so there’s an ambulance and a couple engines in case another Bristol call comes in while they’re on scene.