Crews called to ‘unique’ structure fire in Lanark

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By Brandi Makuski

Firefighters were called to a unique structure fire in the town of Lanark on Tuesday.

The 911 call came into the Portage Co. Communications Center at 3:31 p.m. on April 2. The caller told dispatchers that a man on the scene “was burning” a vacant mobile home at 7542 Oak Hills Dr. in Lanark.

Portage Co. deputies, along with firefighters from Amherst and Stockton, were all called to the scene.

Amherst Fire Chief Victor Voss said the property owner, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, had previously sought permission to burn down a dilapidated mobile home on his property, but he was denied.

“He was told that would be illegal,” Voss said.

While fire departments do sometimes perform training burns on donated properties, Voss said a mobile home isn’t an appropriate

“We train to save a house, not to burn a house,” he said. “A mobile home goes up so fast, it doesn’t bring us a very good training opportunity.”

Once crews arrived on the scene, the home was already a pile of ashes, so Voss canceled the response from Stockton.

“We put 3,000 gallons of water on it, but there were no other structures or anything in danger,” Voss said on Tuesday.

Portage Co. Sheriff Mike Lukas said that deputies believe a contractor performing salvage work on the mobile home accidentally started the fire when he began to cut metal from the structure.

A Department of Natural Resources warden was also called to the scene to document the fire to track air quality, Voss added.

“There were no injuries, but this was definitely a unique one,” Voss said.

Amherst Fire & EMS serves one of the largest areas for a single department in Portage Co. Its 40-plus members cover the town and village of Amherst, the town of Amherst Junction, Nelsonville, Lanark, Belmont, Buena Vista, Stockton, and New Hope.