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New Year’s house fire considered a total loss
A dozen agencies respond to rural home fully engulfed; no injuries reported
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A fire fully engulfs a house on County X outside of Albany on New Years Day. Crews from over a dozen agencies battled the fire in the frigid cold and snow. The home was deemed a total loss and estimated at about $200,000.

ALBANY — A home was completely destroyed on a frigid New Year’s Day by a fire in rural northeastern Green County, leaving two people and a cat temporarily homeless.

Just after 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 1, the Belleville Fire Department — along with Belleville EMS and the Green County Sheriff’s Office — were dispatched to N7512 County Road X, in the Town of Brooklyn for a report of a structure fire. As they rolled up to the scene, fire crews found a two-story, single-family house with “heavy fire visible from three sides of the structure,” and on both the first and second floor, officials said.

No injuries were reported, but Belleville crews were called back to the scene just before 5 p.m. Sunday, as the fire rekindled and some small flames and a plume of smoke appeared.

“Weather conditions are never favorable for (fighting fires) in the cold,” said Belleville Fire Lt. Jake Myrland. “As things collapse on top of each other it can also be difficult to address” hidden hot spots.

Ice and slippery surfaces amid the year’s first significant snowfall also made fighting the fire more difficult, he said.

The victims of the fire are being assisted by family and the American Red Cross, officials said.

For the initial call, a MABAS box alarm was requested bringing units from several departments: Albany FD, Brooklyn FD, Brodhead FD, Fitchburg FD, Fitch-Rona EMS, Monticello FD, New Glarus FD, Oregon FD; Evansville FD and Verona FD. The Green County Highway Department also provided much needed assistance with traffic control and road salt.

Monroe Interim Fire Chief Al Rufer said his department assisted by moving equipment to Belleville to staff their station while local units fought the blaze.

“We moved to new quarters to cover their town” with emergency services, said Rufer. “That’s normally what we do in that type of situation.”

The structure is considered a total loss — estimated at $200,000. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Myrland said.

Authorities did not release the victims’ names but according to tax records the home is owned by Robert L. McCall and Suzanne Vinmans.