In the midst of a fire, a farm community came together
FOCUS spoke to the deputy sheriff at Marathon County, and he informed us that a call came in at 2:40 Central Standard Time about a barn fire in the Township of Cleveland. There were seven area fire departments that responded to the call.
The major reason for dispatching seven fire departments to the town of Cleveland – who worked together to battle a fire located in the 700 block of Eau Pleine Road – was due to the need for water to take out the blaze.
In conversation with the deputy sheriff, FOCUS learned that there were area farmers that came together to help remove cattle from the blaze, as well as transported them to a safe place for keeping.
Ryan Spindler was one of the first area neighbors to make it to the scene and described the dangerous scene.
“Every crack in that barn that you could see through was orange,” he said. “You know what’s up there, you know what’s above you. You don’t know how long that roof you’re working in is gonna stay there for you.”
Ryan’s brother, Kevin Spindler, also helped by housing some of the displaced cattle.
“A couple of their neighbors did the same thing. I don’t think an organization really happened, it was just guys seen there was help that could be done and they they offered to do it,” he said.
The barn is owned by Dean and Deb Kraus.
