Rural Colfax man perishes in house fire

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  A rural Colfax man died in a house fire in the Town of Grant Saturday evening, December 30.

Late Monday afternoon, January 1, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as 84-year-old Wallace Cutting, owner and occupant of the house. According to a news release from Dunn County Sheriff Dennis Smith, an autopsy was conducted and no injuries were found and there was nothing that indicated foul play.

The Dunn County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office are still waiting for the Ramsey County, MN Medical Examiner’s Office to make a final determination of the cause of death.

The Colfax Community Fire Department was called out to the fire on county Highway W northwest of Colfax at shortly before 5 p.m., according to Don Logslett, Colfax fire chief.

When firefighters arrived, the southwest corner of the house was involved, but it did not take long for the structure to be fully engulfed, Logslett said. 

Firefighters found the man who had been living in the house, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

In addition to Colfax, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department responded to the fire, along with other fire departments, including Bloomer, Sand Creek, the Chippewa Fire Protection District, Boyceville, Menomonie, Glenwood City and several others.

Mutual aid from so many fire departments was essential because of the subzero temperatures and the fact that it was a three-and-half-story house about a hundred years old, Logslett said.

Temperatures Saturday evening dipped to nearly 20 below zero Fahrenheit, and with the windchill, the air temperature felt more like 30 below zero.

When the weather is so cold, firefighters who are spraying water quickly become covered with ice, Logslett noted.

Bloomer brought a “recovery trailer,” and the trailer worked out quite well as a place where firefighters could go to get warm, Logslett said.

As of Monday morning, New Year’s Day, firefighters were still dealing with hot spots, he said.

Only the house was involved, and no other structures at the scene caught fire, Logslett said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.