Building seriously damaged in fire

ANTIGO — A warehouse located near the intersection of West Pierce Ave. and Saratoga St. sustained potentially unsalvageable damage in a fire that began around midnight Sunday morning.

Multiple units with the Antigo Fire Department responded to the fire, including Brian Baginski, who arrived at the scene first.

“There was heavy smoke and fire showing from the front and on the east side of the building,” Baginski said. “The eaves and the front overhead door had some flames coming out of there.”

Baginski estimated the fire was contained roughly 20 minutes after he and other fire department personnel arrived at the scene, though heavy smoke billowed from the building for at least an hour, and department personnel remained at the building until after 2 a.m. putting out hot spots.

The AFD was called to the blaze by Maria Corazalla and her husband, who were returning home from a friend’s campfire on the south end of the city when they saw the thickening smoke and decided to drive towards it.

“We were heading towards home down North Ave. by the fairgrounds and it looked like it changed to driving through dense fog,” Corazalla said. “After rolling down the window, I immediately started coughing and sneezing, so we knew it was definitely smoke. We figured it could be something on fire rather than just a campfire or something controlled, and we decided to track it down.”

Greg Kretz, the owner of the building, said he believes the building will likely be a total loss, though it is insured. He had been renting the warehouse out to another man, who used it as a woodworking shop.

After the fire had been extinguished, both men busied themselves moving supplies away from the wall of a connected warehouse.

“We just don’t want it to get wet,” Kretz said. “They’re probably going to be doing some preventative stuff. Anything we can save, we’re going to try to save here. They’re looking for hot spots now, so anything of value that we can get away from there, we’re getting out of their way.”

Lt. Adam Finn said the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but will be investigated in the coming days.