By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Thank goodness for texting and the old-fashioned siren at the Mineral Fire Station.
A fire broke out yesterday afternoon in a vacant two-story building and dispatchers weren’t able to tone out the volunteer fire department.
Fire Chief Kevin Mounce got a text message about it and his son, a firefighter, alerted other firefighters by activating the backup siren.
The “repeater” was down,” Mounce said.
The delay was somewhere between two and five minutes, but it was the kind of fire fight that needed all the resources that could be mustered.
The fire spread to three outbuildings, as well as brush and trees behind the house, the chief said.
“It was a mess,” he said.
Crews spent six hours battling the blaze in yesterday’s hot dry weather, with help from five neighboring departments, according to Mounce.
It started on the 100 block of Maple Lane, ignited an attic fire in a bunk house and burned the roofs of a tool shed and a garage, he said.
It was just west of the old Mineral School.
“What I was worried about was catching the roof on the school,” he said.
One firefighter was injured, and went to Morton General Hospital for X-rays of his hand.
At one point, a good samaritan brought coolers full of Gatorade and water for firefighters, he said. “So that was nice,” he said.
This morning, Mounce returned to put out “hot spots”, he said.
The house had no electricity to it. An investigator was heading up there today to try to determine the cause.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
As one of the responders I was impressed with the myriad of apparatus from Mineral 9, Pierce County 23, Morton 4, Glenoma 18, Randle 14 and Salkum’s multi-role Rescue 8. The fire was quickly extinguished for its size and everyone integrated as if they were all from the same department.