GREENWOOD TWP- A fire on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 13, destroyed a boathouse/sauna building on Nisen Dr., on Lake Vermilion’s Frazer Bay, but the response of firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to a neighboring cabin.
Property owners Thomas and Catherine Lamberta, of Stacy, reported the blaze shortly before 10 a.m. on Sunday. They were heating the sauna when the fire started, though the cause of the blaze has not been officially determined.
When firefighters from Tower arrived first on the scene, they found the building was fully engulfed. Strong northeast winds were fanning the fire and threatened a nearby cabin and a large propane tank located nearby.
Eight area fire departments responded to the call, including Tower, Breitung, Greenwood, Cook, Vermilion Lake, Embarrass, Ely, Eagles Nest, along with the Tower Ambulance for standby. Breitung brought its fireboat, and other area departments ensured there was ample water to contain the blaze.
Pete Makowski, a retired firefighter, whose cabin was less than 40 feet from the burning sauna/boathouse structure said the fire departments did a very good job of protecting the two nearby cabins.
He also said the firefighters kept a nearby propane tank cooled down.
“Had that tank got heated up and exploded,” Makowski said, “it would have been a catastrophe.”
Makowski was not at his cabin when his neighbors reported the fire, but rushed to the scene when he heard it over the radio.
“I had a bit of a pucker factor when I heard the sauna/boathouse were totally engulfed,” he said. “Our cabin is almost 70 years old, and it was built by my dad and uncle. It would have been a devasting loss to our family.”
Makowski said his neighbor’s cabin had damage to the glass in their windows, which meant the fire was at least 1,000 degrees.
“It was pretty intense,” he said.
Makowski said at his cabin, they only lost some three or four trees, their American flag which melted, and a paddleboat. The loss of his neighbor’s sauna/boathouse was a blow to them, Makowski said, because they spend most of the summer at their cabin, and use the sauna often.
Other firefighters on the scene said it was lucky the area had received a little over an inch of rain overnight, which meant the brush and grass nearby wasn’t as tinder dry as it had been a day earlier.
Greenwood Fire Chief Jeff Maus said he was thankful for the response, and he estimated as many as 30 firefighters helped fight the fire, as well as deliver about 18,000 gallons of water to the scene.