Burning leaves get out of control, destroy Oconto County cabin

NEAR MOUNTAIN, Wis. (WBAY) - Nobody was hurt, but a cabin near Mountain is a complete loss after a ground fire quickly spread Thursday night.

Six or seven fire departments were called to a brush fire along Maiden Lake shortly after 6 P.M. By the time firefighters could reach the area, the fire had overtaken the cabin.

Crews say the home was built on a hill so it was hard to get water up to it. They had to set up a system to push water up from the lake.

Firefighters then focused on preventing the fire from spreading to two other homes.

One of the first firefighters on the scene told Action 2 News neighbors were cleaning up the yard by burning some leaves when the flames got out of hand.

“I had talked to them, and they had said this was the first time they ever tried burning leaves, so yeah, it kind of got away on them. The breeze come up off the lake and caught the flames and it just went right up the hill,” Riverview firefighter Michael Rzepka said.

Firefighters expected to be on the scene until 11 P.M. or midnight making sure all the hotspots were put out.

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