News: Greenwood – Five Fires in Seven Days (Jan 1940)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Vesel, Hell, Olson

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.) 25 Jan 1940

The local Fire Department was kept busy the past week, the busiest in the department's history, we believe, when it answered five fires.

Although none of the fires were very bad , they could have all resulted in serious damage, had they not been noticed and watched.

The first call was a week ago Monday noon to St. Mary's School to a chimney fire, with no damage done. The next was the Coast to Coast Store, also a chimney fire with no damage; then Friday, although it was not Friday, the 13th, was a very bad day for John Vesel. He called the fire department out in the forenoon to a chimney fire that could have caused very serious damage had it not happened in the day time. As it was, the fire broke through the chimney and got into the wall, making it necessary to tear down part of the wall to locate and extinguish it. Again, about 7:30 Friday night, the siren blew, calling the department to Vesel's. This time to a bad chimney fire in the second chimney of the building, but this time the fire limited itself to just the chimney. To wind up the seven days (and to wind up the fires for this winter we hope), on Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. the department was summoned to Clarence Hell's residence, where a gas stove had caught fire. This time Clarence hell and Conrad Olson had the fire under control before the truck arrived.

Yes, it was a bad week, and although everyone is thankful that none of the fires were no worse than they were. It is hoped that this will end the fires for this winter.