White Lake home sees minor damage from fire

WHITE LAKE — A fleet of firefighting units responded to an attic fire in a White Lake home Monday afternoon, extinguishing it before the building sustained serious damage.

The fire, which took place in what firefighters described as “an older home” at 536 Mill St., began due to tripping circuit breakers near a running air conditioner, according to Wolf River Fire Chief Alex Emerich.

“It’s salvageable,” Emerich said of the home, which had no visible exterior damage. “If you want to put a percentage on damage to the house, it’s maybe five or ten percent. [It will only require] some cleaning, maybe rewiring or something like that.”

Emerich said the fire was contained to the attic and put out within 10 minutes.

“We saw flames coming through the ceiling through this second story window. It had burned through the ceiling,” Emerich said.

Units from the White Lake Fire Department were the first to respond after being dispatched to the scene around 3:25 p.m.

“No one was hurt,” White Lake Fire Chief Brandon Tegen said. “The owner was out of the property. They got out right away and called, and we were at the scene within six minutes or so.”

“We used the ultra high pressure line — a specialized unit — to go in there and fight the fire.”

In addition to those from White Lake and Wolf River, firefighting units from Oconto County, the Town of Antigo, and Rural Fire Control responded to the relatively small blaze. An EMS team from the City of Antigo also responded to the scene.

Around 4:30 p.m. on several porches along the street now jammed with fire trucks, locals stood observing the by that point calm scene. One, named Maggie Pratt, said she wasn’t sure who had originally called in the fire, but that after they had, trucks arrived “in droves.”

“All we saw was just a little smoke coming out of the vents where the rafters are and that’s it,” Pratt said. “That’s all we saw, and then the next thing you know, there’s six departments here. What we were told is the reason that happened is they didn’t know where the fire was in the building, so if it were to happen to combust, they’ve got to protect our village, which is wonderful. We appreciate it — that’s for sure.”