Fire completely destroys trailer house in Otter Creek

By LeAnn R. Ralph

TOWN OF OTTER CREEK  —  A Saturday morning fire on 1030th Avenue in the Town of Otter Creek completely destroyed a trailer house and left a family homeless.

The Colfax Fire Department received the call at 8 a.m. February 13 for a structure fire, said Don Logslett, Colfax fire chief.

The amount of smoke from the fire was surprising, he said.

A northerly wind pushed dark smoke across the sky for several miles before firefighters arrived.

In addition to Colfax, the Menomonie, Boyceville and Sand Creek fire departments responded to the scene.

The trailer house was a complete loss, and the family escaped with only the clothes on their backs, Fire Chief Logslett said.

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire, he said.

The property at E6202 1030th Avenue is owned by Darrell Anderson, and the trailer house was occupied by Stephanie and Joby Molde, Fire Chief Logslett said.

Although Fire Chief Logslett said he believed there were three or four children in the family, none of them were home at the time of the fire.

John Dachel, principal at Colfax High School, confirmed that the children in the family are students in the Colfax school district.

The fire was particularly difficult to fight because of the below zero temperatures that morning, causing equipment and sprayed surfaces to freeze immediately, Fire Chief Logslett said.

Because there was no water source nearby, tanker trucks made several trips back into Colfax for water to fight the fire.

Firefighters had cleared the scene by 1 p.m., Fire Chief Logslett said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said.