Garage destroyed in Town of Mukwonago fire
Town of Waukesha firefighters check the attic of a house on Squire Lane in the Town of Mukwonago after a garbage can caught fire, which spread to the garage on Jan. 25.
Hot ashes started garbage can on fire, spread to garage
Town of Mukwonago - A fire that started in a garbage can spread and destroyed a garage on Jan. 25.
A passerby called the Mukwonago Fire Department at about 1:45 p.m. to report a garbage can on fire at W325 W7184 Squire Lane.
That person also alerted the resident inside, who was able to get out safely with the family dog.
Mukwonago Fire Chief, Jeffrey Stien, said the fire is thought to have started when ashes that were left to cool overnight were dumped into the trash bin. The ashes had not cooled entirely and lit materials in the bin on fire.
Crews arrived to find the fire had spread to the garage. According to Stien, the department issued a call for a second alarm fire and had 10 departments respond, including City of Waukesha, Town of Waukesha, Dousman, Wales/Genesee, Vernon, Eagle, North Prairie, New Berlin, Big Bend, and East Troy. The first engine on scene was able to knock down the fire to prevent the fire from spreading to the two-story single-family home.
When crews entered the home they found the fire had breeched the attic, but they were able to contain the fire so there was minimal damage to the floors below.
Some on scene or nearby referred to hearing what sounded like explosions during the fire.
Stien said that as common in a garage, stored propane likely caused that noise.
The cost of the damage is still being assessed at this time but Stien estimated it at approximately $75,000.
E-mail Newsletter
Top stories from the Lake Country area. Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings.
Enter your e-mail address above and click "Sign Up Now!" to begin receiving your e-mail newsletter
Get the Newsletter!
MORE: See full gallery
SUBMIT: Post Your Photos now
Do you have news or a nonprofit event that you would like to share with the community? Whether it's a community organization, a business, a local school, or a notable neighbor, we'd love to hear about it.
- Stone Bank July 4th Parade and Festival
- Maple Avenue students lead effort to help Oklahoma schools hit by tornadoes
- Templeton band to perform spring concert
- LinkedIn Instructor Offers Free Class May 29 at Brookfield Public Library
- Westcott chosen as high school associate principal
- Victoria Vox Ukulele Concert & Workshop
- Dac Talks
- Childrens Summer Art Camps & Workshops
MORE: See the rest of Your Stories
SUBMIT: Post Your Story now
Lake Country residents share their views on news, happenings and current events.
LivingLakeCountry.com features more than a dozen community bloggers - a group of volunteer conversation leaders who are up on the latest topics and never short on an opinion. Just a few are pictured here. Check out the rest and see what they have to say!
View All Blogs
Discussion Guidelines
Do you want to become a Community Blogger? LivingLakeCountry.com welcomes your thoughts and opinions. Contact us for more information:
I want to blog
Information on Mukwonago Publications
Find metroparent locations
We encourage your comments but will strive to remove discussion that contains personal attacks, racial slurs, profanity or other inappropriate material as outlined in our guidelines. We post-moderate comments on most content, but may choose to pre-moderate some comments so please be patient if you don't see yours appear right way. We also ask for your help by reporting comments you think are inappropriate.
Please login or register to post a comment.