La Crosse firefighters face challenges with marsh fire

The La Crosse Fire Department faced several unique issues fighting a fire in the marsh just west of Copeland Avenue on Friday afternoon.

Captain Travis George said the call came in for a small fire in the southwest corner of the piece of land along the La Crosse River.

“It grew exponentially within minutes with the wind driving the fire across the forest floor. A lot of those dead trees that were inside had actually hollowed out and there was fire up into the tops of the trees. So, we’re still stuck with some challenges of trees with the top part on fire and they’re dropping embers. With the winds that we had this afternoon, it was hard to get a hold of it.”

An occasional crash of a tree punctuated the sound of a chainsaw. After the trees fell, fire or glowing embers were visible in some of them.

Location also presented issues. Only one of the department’s vehicles was capable of getting into a place to help fight the fire.

“Water source and supply was a challenge for us especially with how fast it was moving and staying ahead of it. The other concern we had was the wind…we’re only one more marsh away and this could be taxing on our personnel,” said Captain George.

Plus, the marsh fire wasn’t the only thing happening on Friday afternoon.

“We had multiple incidents going on throughout the city,” Fire Chief Jeff Schott. “We had a structure fire on Cass Street, the 2400 block, while this one was going on as well. We were taxed fully.”

As both Chief Schott and Captain George spoke, they were waiting members of the city’s Forestry Department to help fell more trees.

In addition to citing the firefighter’s efforts at successfully dealing with the challenges of the fire, Chief Schott highlighted the cooperation between departments.

“We’re tremendously blessed in the city to have the resources that we do. I mean, we have two fires going on at the same time. We have the staff, we have the public safety model with the police working with blocking traffic for us and doing all of that. And to have Forestry, have their people come out and help us, I mean, that just…it speaks to where we’re at as a city and the services we provide.”

In all, eight trucks and 23 firefighters responded to the fire.

No injuries were reported.

Nothing was available yet, but Captain George said investigators were looking into the cause of the fire.

The department was on the scene until early evening.

UPDATE 5:45 p.m.: Firefighters continue trying to control a fire in a portion of the La Crosse River Marsh.

The rain may help their cause.

They were able to get at least one hose into a wooded area.

Fire spread into several large, old, hollow trees. The sound of a chainsaw followed by a crash could be heard every few minutes.

Seven trucks were on the scene.

Copeland Avenue southbound remains down to one lane of traffic.

Although the smell of smoke is still present, it has diminished considerably from earlier this afternoon.

A portion of the La Crosse River marsh is on fire.

It is in an area of the marsh west of Copeland Avenue near the southside Oktoberfest grounds.

Because of the location of the fire, the La Crosse Fire Department had to pull just off of Copeland Avenue with several trucks and lay their hoses from there.

Other members of the department were wearing portable water tanks trying to extinguish the fire.

Stong winds from the south fed the fire from a grassy area and into a grove of trees.

Smoke, heavy at times, was blowing across Copeland Avenue to the northeast.

Southbound traffic was down to one lane because of the fire trucks and emergency vehicles at the scene. They were staging just to the north of the La Crosse River bridge.

This is a developing story. We’ll keep you updated as new information becomes available.