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Kenmare firefighters called 35 times in 2014

It was another strong year for the Kenmare Fire Department in 2014 as crew members were summoned 35 times in 2014 for a variety of reasons.

1/20/15 (Tue)

One of 35 calls for 2014... Kenmare Fire Department personnel battle a grass fire last year on April 2 near Niobe, along with the Bowbells Fire Department. It was one of three times in 2014 the fire department was called out twice in one day. Six firefighters responded to Niobe while eight firefighters were called to the Terry Coons farm near Donnybrook the same day.

By Marvin Baker

It was another strong year for the Kenmare Fire Department in 2014 as crew members were summoned 35 times in 2014 for a variety of reasons.

According to a year-end report issued by secretary/treasurer Chuck Leet, of the 35 calls, 30 were in the rural fire district and 5 were in the city of Kenmare.

In all, firefighters responded to 14 vehicle accidents, 11 grass fires, four combine or tractor fires, three vehicle fires, two structure fires and a propane gas leak.

Those calls took 572 individual man hours and individual members of the department reported to calls 320 times.

On April 27, 15 firefighters responded to a structure fire at the Gordon Haugen farm west of Coulee. They battled the blaze for three hours, which is also the most time spent at a fire.

On six occasions throughout the year, a dozen personnel responded and in all but one of those fires spent two hours. A car fire in a Kenmare alley on Aug. 10 was extinguished within an hour.

Three times in 2014, the department was called twice in one day.

On April 2, six personnel responded to a grass fire just north and west of Niobe, while eight members fought a grass fire that same day on the Terry Coons farm near Donnybrook.

A similar situation happened on Nov. 7 when six firefighters responded to a vehicle accident in Donnybrook and seven went to a vehicle rollover on Ward County 1, nine miles south of Kenmare.

Two separate vehicle rollovers on Nov. 22 were also responsible for the department getting called twice on the same day. Nine firefighters responded to the rollover nine miles north of Kenmare and although a vehicle rollover was reported, when the eight personnel got to the site on Ward County 1, eight miles south of Kenmare, the vehicle couldn’t be found.

Sunday was the busiest day of the week for the Kenmare department as it was called seven times  on Sunday throughout the year.

The first was a vehicle rollover west of Kenmare on March 23, a vehicle accident near Coulee on April 6, the fire at the Haugen farm on April 27, the Kenmare alley fire on Aug. 10, a vehicle rollover Sept. 21 on the west hill of lakeshore, a gas leak Nov. 2 at the Jim Ehler residence and a vehicle rollover three miles north of Kenmare on Dec. 28.

The only “holiday” in which the department was called was Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 13, which was a vehicle accident near Tolley.

Twice during the year, the department was called on consecutive days, on Sept. 21, 22 and 23 and again on Nov. 14 and 15.

Ironically, there was a span of two months, from the first report of the year Jan. 12, to a vacant house fire in Kenmare on March 15 and nearly two months from a grass fire May 23 to a vehicle accident July 12.

That meant the department didn’t respond to any calls in the months of February and June.

In sharp contrast, April and November were busy months. The department was called six times in both months and in both months two calls came in one day.

Two grass fires just north and west of Niobe occurred within a half mile of each other on April 2 and Sept. 16, on Nov. 16, the department aided in an Air Force vehicle rollover and two consecutive fires, three days apart on Nov. 15 and Nov. 18, both involved combines catching fire... Read EVERY WORD on EVERY PAGE of The Kenmare News by subscribing--online or in print!