Anxious moments Assistant Staples Fire Chief Jeff DeGeest was busy Monday at one of three different fire sites the department responded to. The department “It is not a good Monday.”

That’s what Daniel Simon said Monday afternoon as he sat outside at his Becker Township home northeast of Staples.

The wind was blowing and several fires were burning all around his grounds. A pile of truck tires he was planning to sell were in flames, black smoke billowing up in dense black clumps.

Staples firefighters were on the scene, hurrying to get water to wherever it was needed. Simon’s house and other buildings, however, were safe, as were his family. So he was somewhat relaxed, finally.

He and his son had been cutting up steel, salvaging metal from old vehicles and a trailer home. They had been using a cutting torch until the fire accidently started.

“It was one second a little flame, the next ‘ka-boom’ it was gone, a huge fire,”Dan Simon said.

The fire swept across the yard of the former farmstead along Jenkins Road in Becker Township. The winds soon had the fire in his pile of tires and seconds later it jumped across the township gravel road and into a swamp north of the road.

Water drop A DNR helicopter dropped water Monday afternoon, helping put out flames at a Becker Township grass fire. Landowner Daniel Simon said he was using a cutting torch to salvage metal when fire started in the nearby grass and quickly swept through his yard and across a gravel road. Strong southerly winds drove the fire into this nearby brushy area. (Staples World photo by Tom Crawford) The grass fire season is here. Despite a total ban on open fires, at least two fires got started on Monday in the Staples area.

The call to the Simon residence was just one of three fire calls the Staples department had Monday, and one of five over the past three days. The Staples Fire Department, which was just finishing up one grass and swamp fire three miles south of town, was called and arrived at the Simon fire, and promptly called for backup.

DNR fire fighting crews, already in the area, were right behind the Staples department. They called in a spotter plane and a helicopter with a canvas bucket, which started making repeated runs between a nearby pond and the grass and brush fire north of the Simon’s.

Smoky haze A Staples Fire Department pickup and two fire fighters is nearly lost in a smoky haze as they head back to fire fighting. They had to return to the department The Motley Fire Department was called for mutual aid, with two trucks and two smaller equipment vehicles responding.

Earlier Monday, the department responded twice to the Lawrence Lake housing development south of Staples. They were called at 1:19 p.m. to the Dave Anglin residence to put out a grass fire that had gotten away from a homeowner in the morning. Just over an hour later, they were back when strong winds apparently re-ignited that fire, with flames crossing a large pond near the Gordy Rosenthal home and threatening several homes.

Staples firefighters put their newly rebuilt J-5 swamp buggy to work on that fire,with Scott Yungbauer using it to reach fires that were scattered around the edge of Rosenthal’s pond. The J-5 cruised through wet ground and shallow water without diffi culty.

Plowing through the swamp Scotty Yungbauer piloted a J-5 swamp buggy through a wetland adjacent to Lawrence Lake Monday afternoon, searching for remnants of a grass fire that got out of control. Yungbauer and other members of the fire department have spent the past nine months working on this machine they acquired from the Department of Natural Resources. The fire department relief association plans to officially present the J-5 to the City of Staples this month. (Staples World photo by Tom Crawford) Some of the fire department units had just returned from that fire when they were called out to the Simon fire.

On Saturday, Staples firefighters were called out shortly before 7 p.m. for a fire at the Hap and Doris Corbett home on Highway 210 south in Staples . Doris Corbett said they smelled smoke and investigated, discovering a fire in their clothes dryer. They called 911. and immediately got out of the house. The fire was confined to the rear of their home, but smoke blackened the entire interior of the home.

Firemen were able to hit the flames fairly quickly and keep damage to a minimum, although it is still substantial. “Thank heaven for the south side fire hall,” Doris said. She said the northside fire trucks were stopped by a train and didn’t make it to the fire for several more minutes.

Doris and Hap are living at the Staples Super 8 Motel temporarily. “We didn’t even have time to grab any extra clothes,”Doris said on Tuesday morning as they surveyed the damage in their home.

Fireman also responded to a fire call Sunday afternoon which turned out to be a dry run, the fire already out when they arrived south of Staples.

Virtually the entire state is under a Department of Natural Resources ban on open fires of any kind, with an extremely high fire danger in grass and wooded area. The ban is in effect until there is a greenup of vegetations, which takes warm temperatures and rainfall. Until then, conditions are expected to stay dry and dangerous.