ANTIGO — Several local authorities that responded to the large field fire on the northern outskirts of the city just over a week ago recently commented on the details of the blaze.
The fire burned over 13 acres of a farm owner’s dormant field approximately a quarter mile north of Cherry Rd. following a lightning strike, according to Town of Antigo Fire Chief Eric Borchert, whose department responded to reports of towering flames in the area around 11:15 p.m. Saturday April 13.
“It grew to that size very, very rapidly. Probably within the first ten minutes of that being called in, it probably went from the original lightning strike to that 13 acres. The winds were that strong that it fanned out,” Borchert said. “When those thunderstorms are nearby, you get those heavy winds that come ahead of them, and that’s what caused that fire to spread as quickly as it did. Once the storm moved through, the winds dyed down considerably and we did receive just a little bit of precip, which was enough to settle it down again.”
Borchert said that small amount of precipitation was crucial in limiting the fire’s spread.
“In this particular case, the lightning came through, and we did not get a lot of rain, but we got just enough to knock it down to the point that we could contain it,” he said.
“If we didn’t get that, it could have easily doubled in size without that before we were able to get a handle on it.”
Borchert said his department remained at the scene about two hours putting out hot spots and worked alongside DNR officials, who plowed a containment line around the entire blaze to stop its spread.
Kendra Jansky, a forest ranger covering Langlade County for the Wisconsin DNR, said she saw roughly 10 foot high flames when she arrived to the field.
“Definitely night fires are a little bit more mysterious, because you don’t know exactly where it’s heading to other than through your field maps.” Jansky said. “We couldn’t see very well, so we put a containment line around it just to make sure. And there were some smokes around the edge that could have rekindled potentially, so we put a plow line around it to make sure it was contained for the night.”
Both Jansky and Borchert said according to National Weather Service maps, the lightning struck the middle of the field.
“When it was paged, somebody that witnessed the strike thought it hit a tree, but it actually hit the field somewhere. According to the maps, there was one lightning strike in that field, so that was their determination as well,” Borchert said. “There was no other reason to believe that that fire would have started from something else.”
Brendon Skittone, a 22-year-old from the area, said he was parked near the airport with three friends watching the storm come in when they saw an orange glow in the sky coming from above what they thought was Fleet Farm. They began driving toward it.
“We turned down Pioneer Rd. and headed towards Cherry Rd. and we saw large flames coming from what looked like a barn or house that was on fire. I mean, these flames were high — we could see them over the trees when it first started. As we got closer, we realized it wasn’t a structure fire but a grass fire in the field,” said Skittone, who then reported the fire. “We were all asking, ‘What is that? Oh my gosh — what’s on fire?’ We wondered if anyone was hurt or knew about it.”
Jamie Igl, another local who called in the fire, said that because of the speed at which it spread, she originally guessed the lightning might have hit a power pole.
“The lightning went straight down and all of a sudden the fire was just gushing. We were outside watching it because I called it in and all of a sudden it went ‘woosh,’ and then pretty much half the field went up in flames,” Igl said.
Brad Igl, an unrelated man who lives on Cherry Rd. nearly across the street from a gravel road that leads to the field that was ablaze, suggested some false information about the size of the fire seems to have circulated.
“I heard somebody say there was about 40 acres that were burnt. I was like, ‘I don’t know how it could be 40 acres back there.’ I could kind of see what looked like a little bit of a glow here and there, but not a raging fire. I couldn’t even see anything burning back there, that’s why I couldn’t understand how it burned that fast,” he said. “On Facebook, somebody said they were driving down Highway 45 and they saw it light up, and they drove around the block down I and then back up Chillie Rd. and they said by the time they got back here it was burned out. So I suppose that dry grass just goes like crazy.”
Jansky said she responded to roughly five fires in the county during this past week alone.
“Most of the others were caused by debris burning, improper ash disposal, and I think we had one equipment start one, so someone blew a tire and it threw some sparks. The rest were all human caused,” Jansky said.
She said while none of these fires were shockingly large — compared to one three years ago she responded to near Rangeline Rd. that burned 80 acres, Saturday night’s fire was relatively small — Langlade County residents should remain wary.
“When we get a little rain, people get a little lax. Then the winds usually pick up and grasses dry out pretty quick after it rains. That’s when I start seeing fires: when rain kind of lulls people into complacency,” she said. “So from a fire prevention standpoint, it’s good to know that springtime is Wisconsin’s fire season.”
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