Blaze destroys home in Shields

By Diane Graff and Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Monday, May 19, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

Watertown Fire Department personnel work to extinguish a blaze which destroyed a two-story residence on Wood Road in the town of Shields Saturday. (JOHN HART/Daily Times)

TOWN OF SHIELDS - A fire in the town of Shields Saturday afternoon destroyed a two-story home and some records of the town board.

The home of Ron and Sue Johnson, N1662 Wood Road, was completely destroyed in the blaze, along with bill receipts, payments and minutes for the Shields Town Board.

According to Watertown assistant fire Chief William Schwenkner, the fire was caused by the malfunction of a propane tank grill. He said the entire grill started on fire and the flames spread to one of the home's exterior walls.

The house was declared a total loss.

“She had everything in her home,” town board Chairman Neale R. Jones said this morning. Johnson had served as the town clerk for about the past five years. Because the town does not have its own town hall, the clerk stores the records.

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“We are going to assess what we do have left and we are going to have to go through the burnt records,” Jones said. The town chairman said he started the process of sifting through the documents Saturday to determine what is salvageable and what records can be copied.

“Some of the ones (papers) which we are currently involved with and need for day-to-day business, I either have or copies can be obtained,” Jones said. Those documents include bank statements, unpaid and paid bills for the current year, he added. Banks keep copies of the statements and the county has a copy of the tax roll, Jones said.

But destroyed in the blaze was the plan commission information and Smart Growth Plan the town was preparing. Hopefully, other board members will have the information and it can be duplicated, he said.

Along with the bills and statements, the records of past board minutes were lost in the fire. But the records kept by the clerk only go back 20 to 25 years, the chairman said.

“There was a fire at another location years ago so there were no real historic records lost,” Jones said. “The records only went back 20 to 25 years,” he said. “We never had records going back to the beginning. Those haven't been around for a long time,” he added.

It will be difficult to reconstruct the makeup of the town board and the minutes of the meetings over the years, Jones said.

“We are going to have to see what we do have left,” Jones said. “The most important thing is to make sure we have what we need to go forward.”

“Sure, there are things we are going to find we are missing and then we will have to determine if it is something we need and if it is possible to get a copy.

“There are a certain amount of records I keep in my office which I haven't gone through yet,” Jones said. “Hopefully, I will be able to reconstruct some of that for her. I am sure I have minutes for the past number of years, but I am not sure how far back.

“We have had a lot of offers for help from other townships and I am sure will obtain some help from the county to reconstruct some things,” Jones said.

“I am concerned about the Johnsons themselves,” Jones said. “They walked away at the end of the day with just the clothes on their backs.”

The Watertown Fire Department was first notified of the blaze at 12:04 p.m. and when firefighters arrived the garage and the first floor were completely engulfed in flames, Schwenkner said. Shortly after the ceiling of the garage collapsed and the entire home was on fire, he added.

While firefighters walked around the home they noticed the gas meter was missing and could hear a loud hissing noise, Schwenkner said.

“We could hear a loud hissing noise and we noticed that because of the heat the meter had melted away,” Schwenkner said. “So we also had to deal with the natural gas feeding the fire.”

He added firefighters used a crescent wrench to stop the gas flow, but they were unable to eliminate the entire threat because there was a leak around the valve.

Firefighters faced another obstacle when the fire spread to a cornfield on the east side of the home. Schwenkner said the firefighters had to wait until equipment and personnel from Ixonia arrived to fight the blaze in the field.

Mutual aid was also provided by fire departments from Clyman, Lowell and Waterloo.

A total of 33 firefighters had the blaze under control at 1:09 p.m. and completely extinguished at 3:06 p.m.

Schwenkner said a Clyman firefighter sustained minor injuries during the fire and was treated and released at the scene.

Approximately 27,000 gallons of water was used to douse the fire, Schwenkner said.

Donations for the Johnson family are being accepted at St. Bernard Catholic Church, according to town Treasurer Sue Nampel.

Nampel, a neighbor and friend of the family, is accepting donations at the church. For more information, contact Nampel at St. Bernard Catholic Church at 261-5133 or her home at 261-0848.