Fire destroys house on Hwy. 77 west of Hayward

A structure fire reported by a passerby at 2:36 p.m. Sunday Aug. 25 heavily damaged the Mike Barthel home at 17063N State Hwy. 77, approximately six miles west of Hayward, just east of the Washburn County line.

Town of Hayward Fire Chief Don Hamblin said the first sheriff’s deputies on scene helped a woman resident off the porch. Barthel was not home at the time.

Responding to the scene were approximately 25 firefighters in 14 trucks with fire departments from the Towns of Hayward, Bass Lake, Round Lake and Spider Lake and the City of Hayward. They set up a water fill site at the Nelson Lake dam.

The two-story house “was pretty well-involved with fire when we arrived,” Hamblin said. “We did a pretty fast knockdown and had the fire under control within a few minutes. We spent a couple hours doing overhaul and making sure everything was out.

“We’re unsure at this time what the cause of the fire was,”Hamblin added. “It looks like it was first floor.”

The first and second floors sustained heavy fire damage and the basement had some water and smoke damage. Two areas of the main floor had burned through, which made it difficult to get inside and do overhaul, Hamblin added.

There were no injuries.