Car totalled in early morning Dewey fire

By Brandi Makusku

DEWEY — A vehicle was destroyed by fire early Saturday after a catastrophic engine failure sparked a blaze along northbound I-39 near mile marker 176.

The Dewey Fire Department was dispatched to the scene at 4:33 a.m. on June 27.

The woman driving the car escaped without injury and was the vehicle’s only occupant, Assistant Fire Chief Ken Lewandowski said.

“The car was totally engulfed by the time I got there,” Lewandowski said.

Firefighters found evidence that the engine had failed before the fire intensified. A connecting rod from the engine was discovered about 200 yards behind the vehicle, and responders observed a trail of oil leading to where the driver had pulled over.

“It started in the front and went to the back, and then it ruptured the fuel tank,” Lewandowski said.

The ruptured fuel tank made extinguishing the fire more difficult. Firefighters initially attacked the blaze with water, but burning gasoline continued flowing beneath the vehicle.

“We had a hard time getting that out from underneath the car,” Lewandowski said. “We had to switch to foam.”

Fire Capt. John Kraft said the department used about one gallon of Class A foam concentrate mixed with water through an injector set at a 1% ratio. In all, firefighters used an estimated 1,100 gallons of water to extinguish the fire.

The fire burned so intensely that both the front and rear bumpers melted away from the vehicle. Lewandowski said firefighters later used shovels to scrape the melted bumper material from the interstate before the roadway could be reopened.

The incident also marked the first working fire for firefighter Jeff Kontney, who joined the Dewey Fire Department last fall and recently completed his firefighter training.

“It was definitely a learning experience,” Kontney said.

No injuries were reported, and the vehicle was considered a total loss.

The vehicle was removed from the scene by Johnson Towing of Stevens Point.

The Wisconsin State Patrol also responded to the scene. Traffic on northbound I-39 was temporarily affected while firefighters extinguished the blaze and cleared debris from the roadway.