VIDEO/PHOTOS: The La Crosse Fire Department faced several unique issues fighting a fire in the marsh just west of Copeland Avenue on Friday afternoon. Captain Travis George said the call came in for a small fire in the southwest corner of the piece of land along the La Crosse River.
โIt grew exponentially within minutes with the wind driving the fire across the forest floor. A lot of those dead trees that were inside had actually hollowed out and there was fire up into the tops of the trees. So, weโre still stuck with some challenges of trees with the top part on fire and theyโre dropping embers. With the winds that we had this afternoon, it was hard to get a hold of it.โ
An occasional crash of a tree punctuated the sound of a chainsaw. After the trees fell, fire or glowing embers were visible in some of them. Location also presented issues. Only one of the departmentโs vehicles was capable of getting into a place to help fight the fire. โWater source and supply was a challenge for us especially with how fast it was moving and staying ahead of it. The other concern we had was the windโฆweโre only one more marsh away and this could be taxing on our personnel,โ said Captain George. Plus, the marsh fire wasnโt the only thing happening on Friday afternoon.
