I was in the newspaper, check it out.

00SaturnSC2 · 02-03-2003, 03:42 AM

Article published Feb 2, 2003
Brush fires keep firefighters busy over weekend

BELLEVIEW - Several brush fires kept Marion County firefighters busy on Saturday. By 5 p.m., they had battled five grass fires and two illegal burns.

According to Marion County Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Heather Danenhower, one of the fires burned 130 acres in the Westwood Acres community in west Marion County. No buildings were endangered, and no one was injured.

As of late Saturday evening, fire officials did not know how the fire began.

Several miles away in Belleview, John Lake Jr., a from Station 23, was injured while fighting a 20- to 25-acre fire. The blaze shut down traffic on County Road 484 for about 30 minutes.

Lake suffered smoke inhalation and was transported to Munroe Regional Medical Center, Danenhower said. A hospital spokeswoman said Lake was treated and released.

Lake stated, "I was on scene for at least 10 to 15 minutes before the next truck was on scene with me. I was the person that reported it because I was in the area, a block away. When i pulled on scene the flames were taller than my truck and moving rapidly."

Officials said the fire started when Rick Munroe, who lives close by, was burning some debris in his back yard when the fire spread to nearby fields. When the fire was finally contained, 185 rolls of hay and about 20 water sprinklers had been destroyed. The hay and water sprinklers were on a property owned by Marion Loaiza.

"I'm glad it didn't do much damage," Loaiza said.

Danenhower said Munroe will be cited because he did not burn his yard debris in a nonflammable container.

"With the winds picking up, it's very easy for a small fire to get out of control," Danenhower said.

Rick Munroe could not be reached for comment.
Danenhower said while it's not illegal to burn yard debris, it's important that people pay close attention to rules on how to burn debris.

"Most people don't know that if a fire destroys someone's property or someone is injured by the fire, you're liable," Danenhower said.

Officials state a structure was also partially burned that stored chickens in it, though officials saved all the chickens and put them in a safe cage.

"It was funny, I arrived back on scene from the hospital and all these firefighters were running around trying to catch these chickens." states Lake.

Cxtra_ION · 02-03-2003, 05:49 PM

SWEET MAN!