Monster Fire at Minong by Bill Matthias

Author:Bill Matthias
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Fleeing the Flames

My wife, Karen, got the phone call Saturday night. The man on the phone told her to evacuate our home on the north side of Bond Lake, just three miles from the eastern flank of the Five Mile Tower Fire. The fire bosses were expecting a wind shift from the northwest, and they were scared.

Karen packed our Volkswagen Beetle with valuables and important papers and got our two young boys—Mark, age three, and Greg, six months old—out of bed. She hoisted our two dogs and cat into the car. When she drove out of the driveway and turned south on the blacktop, she was horrified at the sight. In the west the sky was red from horizon to horizon. Flames from three miles away could be seen licking toward the heavens. By the time she drove out of harm's way toward Minong, the fire had scorched ten miles of forest and still had another four to go.

Hundreds of people were evacuated that day and night as the flames raced northward. Wardens, police officers, and firefighters went ahead of the fire's anticipated path and notified folks to leave. Because of the forecasted wind shift, the evacuation plan included lands up to five miles east of the fire.

Marilyn Scott was home with her young children, two miles west of Highway 53 at Scott's Resort. Her husband, Dick, was busy delivering sandwich meat, cheese, and bread to the Sandwich Queens of Minong and then taking the sandwiches to the fire zones. As the fire grew in intensity, Dick stopped at home to check on his family. They loaded their car with their children and some belongings and went to the Wascott Town Hall, which was opened for evacuees. Dick then returned to his volunteer work, delivering food all night long.

Ed and Deb Kofal lived along Highway 53, next to Halfway Lake, between Wascott and Gordon. Deb and her sister-in-law, Cheryl Smith, watched the fire grow and decided to evacuate. Deb loaded important papers into their car, along with all of Ed's carpenter tools. The two women went to Minong to stay with Deb's parents that night. When Ed returned home at 7:00 Sunday morning, he thought someone had robbed the place.

Jack and Mary Morrow's house on Bear Track Lake was on the western edge of the flames when they were told to leave. Earlier in the afternoon Jack and their son, John, two and a half, were fishing under the Totagatic River Bridge on Highway 77 west of Minong when they heard the first DNR trucks and heavy units going overhead. They climbed the riverbank and saw the first columns of smoke in the distance. Little did they realize that their home five miles to the north would later be threatened.

The Morrows evacuated to Ed and Betty Nelson's home in Minong. Jack's mother evacuated from her home on No Man's Lake. Meanwhile, Jack and his father, Jack Senior, returned to their homes and stayed on watch with garden hoses ready all night.

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