VIDEO/PHOTOS: Firefighters were still putting out hot spots Wednesday, one day after a large brush fire in southern Door County. “I’ve been on the department for 41 years. This is the biggest grass fire I’ve ever seen in our area,” said Jim Wautier, assistant chief for the Brussels-Union-Gardner Fire Department.
Tuesday afternoon’s brush fire, according to officials, started after a UTV caught fire. It quickly spread, burning about 65 acres of private marshland. According to Wautier, “With the six, eight-foot dried marsh and cattails and dead ash trees in that area, that fire was probably 10 to 20 feet in the air. Once it got to the edge of County Highway C on one side, it probably crossed the road in about 15 seconds.”
One day before the fire broke out, the DNR sent out a warning about increased fire danger this fall. “The past few years, it’s been more of a common occurrence to see some elevated fire danger in fall, especially when the leaves are dropping, plants and grass and stuff is going dormant,” said DNR Forest Ranger Garrett Lubbers.
