Investigators unable to find cause of fire

By Rachel Primmer for the Daily Times
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 12:22 PM CDT

LAKE MILLS - The final report on the apartment fire that took place in Lake Mills three weeks ago has been released and investigators have been unable to positively determine the underlying cause of the fire, which partially destroyed the 3,750-square-foot building.

Special agent James Sielehr, however, who worked on the case, has officially determined the fire originated on the balcony of the second floor apartment that is located in the northeast corner of the building. A few items identified as being on the balcony where the fire began included candles, cigarette butts, unburned charcoal briquettes and bags of trash. Follow-up interviews conducted by fire personnel with residents of the apartment revealed the resident living in the apartment where the fire began thought she smelled something burning just before she left for work at around 1:30 p.m. She searched the apartment and determined that nothing had been left on or lit, and went to work.

About one hour later, an individual passing by spotted the fire and rang the bell of the apartment, waking one resident in the building. That resident then sounded a manual fire alarm, allowing all three tenants who were in the building at the time of the fire to vacate before firefighters arrived at the scene.

All 15 residents were accounted for. Two dogs and one cat living in the complex were removed from the building uninjured.

Forty firefighters from Lake Mills and three surrounding fire departments, Johnson Creek, Waterloo and Watertown, began arriving at the scene of the fire at 2:43 p.m. Two engines and a tanker were used from Lake Mills. An additional engine arrived from Johnson Creek, a ladder truck was requested from Watertown and a truck with five firefighters came from Waterloo. Three hydrants surrounding the building were used as water sources. Two EMS vehicles were also on site. The last trucks with fire personnel left the scene at 7:18 p.m.

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According to Deputy Fire Chief Todd Yandre, all tenants have been temporarily relocated, either through assistance from the local Red Cross or insurance policies. A special account has been opened at the Summit Credit Union to help out victims of the fire.

One firefighter was reported injured while working on the second story, shortly after entering the building. He was treated and released from urgent care for a minor injury. A ceiling collapse was listed as a contributing factor to the injury.

Approximately half of the building was heavily damaged by smoke, fire and water. The other half was visibly saved from the flames by the internal fire stops that existed within the building's construction. It is unknown as to whether the owner of the building plans to remodel or rebuild.

Yandre also reported the displaced residents were surprised by, and very appreciative of, the efforts made by the firefighters to recover and remove personal items from the apartment while still fighting the fire. He said, “Members of the Lake Mills Fire Department and mutual aid fire departments did an outstanding job to save what they did.”

Many personal items were recovered from six of the eight apartments. The two upstairs apartments that endured the most damage contained very few personal items that were recovered.