Photo by Carl Foster The home of Tom VanCleve and Bruce Stahly burned to the ground the night of Saturday, October 19, 2009. Flames could be seen from County Road 7 just outside the Grand Marais city limits.
At 9:53 p.m. Saturday, October 10, 2009, Carl Foster called the Cook County Law Enforcement Center to report what appeared to be a large fire down the road from him on County Road 48. He called back again one minute later to say that it was a really
big fire.
Indeed it was. A glowing sky and smoke could be seen from just outside the city limits on County Road 7.
The home at 128 County Road 48 was fully engulfed in flames when the first firefighter, Mike Flack of the Grand Marais Fire Department, arrived on the scene.
Flack arrived in an ambulance, ready to take on one of his other roles as an EMT. He became the incident commander, however, according to Grand Marais Fire Chief Ben Silence, and he could tell right away that the house could not be saved. It was pretty clear that the best they could do was save outlying structures and try to contain the fire, Silence said.
The first Grand Marais Fire Department truck arrived at 10:12 p.m., 19 minutes after the first call. The Maple Hill Fire Department and Arrowhead Electric Cooperative had also been called. An electrical line was hanging low across the driveway and fire trucks could not drive under it until the power was turned off, Silence said. Thefiredepartment usually calls the utility company to avoid the possibility of spraying water on live electrical lines.
Staff photo/Jane Howard No injuries were reported. The next day, red coals were still glowing and smoke was still rising from the ashes.
A lot of emergency personnel responded to the fire. On hand were 12 firefighters with one pumper, one tanker, and one support truck from the Grand Marais Fire Department; six to eight firefighters with one pumper and one tanker from the Maple Hill Fire Department; Sheriff ’s Department personnel, first responders, and an ambulance.
The homeowners, Tom VanCleve and Bruce Stahly, were out of town but had been contacted by 10:22 p.m. VanCleve told the Cook County Law Enforcement dispatcher that no one should have been inside the home.
Ben Silence stated that the crew was able to keep the fire from damaging a garage about 25-30 yards away. “We did manage to save some of [their] woodpile,” Silence added. In a situation like this in which the building clearly cannot be saved, the fire department still tries to put the fire out as much as possible while not risking anyone’s safety. Silence said that insurance companies want fire departments to knock out a fire as quickly as possible to increase the chance of determining the cause of the fire.
The Maple Hill Fire Department left the scene at 1:20 a.m. The Grand Marais Fire Department left the scene at 1:42 a.m. after telling a deputy that the fire would be steaming the rest of the night. Deputies reported that they would continue to check on the scene after that.
By the next afternoon, all that was left of the house were a tall fireplace chimney, twisted metal in the basement, and charred beams. Red coals were still visible, and smoke rose up from the ashes. Silence went back to the scene with two other firefighters to make sure nothing had been disturbed or left behind.
On Monday morning, Silence said, “I’m sure it’s still smoldering today.”
When asked if he knew the cause of the fire, Silence said, “I have no idea.”
Silence had nothing but praise for the fire crews. “Mike [Flack] did an excellent job as I.C. [incident commander],” Silence said. “Everybody did an excellent job. I’m really impressed. It seems that our training is really paying off.”
An account has been established at the Grand Marais State Bank for anyone wishing to assist VanCleve and Stahly. Contact the bank at (218) 387-2441 for information.
The number of calls the Grand Marais Fire Department has received this year is one away from the total number of calls they received in 2008, and quite a few of last year’s calls were false alarms due to a faulty alarm at a local business.
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