D.B. Oak building’s north side is total loss, south side saved

By Kim McDarison

Firefighters worked overnight to monitor what remained of Tuesday’s five-alarm fire at the D.B. Oak building, 710 Oak St., according to Fort Atkinson Fire Chief Daryl Rausch. 

At approximately 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, firefighters, many from departments across the state, were preparing for a shift change. Rausch said the north side of the large business incubator and warehouse building would continue to burn likely for several days. 

Overnight, he said, a storm moving through the area had caused firefighters to momentarily abandon their equipment. The storm front caused the black cloud of smoke still streaming from the fire to drop. Firefighters were removed from their monitoring positions until the smoke cloud lifted. 

Also during the night, a Fort Atkinson firefighter was injured, receiving, what Rausch described as “serious cuts,” presumable after a window in the rubble collapsed. The firefighter was transported to a hospital in Madison where he was expected to undergo surgery sometime around midnight, Rausch said. He described the firefighter as in stable condition. 

The firefighter was the third to sustain injuries associated with the fire. Two firefighters were treated Tuesday, both for minor heat-related injuries, Rausch said.  

“There were three people working in the building to the south, when the fire started. There was nobody working in the warehouse at the time of the fire. All of the people that were working in the building to the south have been accounted for,” Rausch said. 

Further, he said, there were no animals in a kennel club operating from the south side of the building at the time of the fire.

Addressing the condition of the city’s water system, Rausch said the system pumped water into the towers overnight, bringing them up to a “normal” capacity. 

At no time was the city without water, he said. Water levels within towers dropped to a low of 10 feet at one point, but were, as of Wednesday morning, back to normal at 40 feet, he added.  

Fort Atkinson City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire, arriving on the scene at around 6:45 a.m., said yesterday, the water levels in the city’s towers did drop to a less than desirable level, but Rausch and staff at the city’s water department worked together to make sure water supplies were maintained at safe operating levels. 

Low water levels within the city’s water towers factored into a decision to let the north side of the warehouse building and its contents burn, Rausch said. Hazardous pollution, caused by a mix of the burning materials and runoff from the firefighting activities, was also a factor, he said. 

Describing the transit nature of the warehouse, Rausch said it was difficult for firefighters to know on any given day what might be stored inside. 

“I’ve heard a lot of different stories about what was in there; everything from Vietnamese rubber to tires to 35,000 plungers,” Rausch said. 

Some chemicals were being stored in the northeast corner of the building, and some cans and cardboard from a local canning company also were stored inside, he said. 

Some contents in the building were owned by tenant Tim Carnes, who, Rausch said, has been on vacation. He was hopeful he might learn more Wednesday about what was being stored. 

During a press briefing held Tuesday afternoon, Rausch, who has been fighting fires for over 40 years, said he knew as he drove on Main Street toward Oak Street on Tuesday that whatever was being consuming by the fire would be a total loss. 

He described the D.B. Oak building as one with two large sections connected by an enclosed concrete walkway. The north side, serving as a transit warehouse, was approximately 60,000 square feet. That side has collapsed and will be allowed, along with its contents, to burn up. The south side, which serves as office and staging area for several small businesses, is approximately 250,000 square feet. That side has been unaffected by flames. 

“We stopped the fire at the communication point,” which, Rausch said, was the connecting structure between the two sides. He added: “Our goal was to stop the fire at that point and keep it out of the south building. That south building is 500 (feet) by 500 (feet) and its got a lot of material, including a server farm, there’s about a million dollars worth of classic cars, there’s five or six private general contractors who use that building as a staging area and a business office.”  

Tenants on the south side of the building will likely be allowed to enter sometime Wednesday or Thursday Rausch said. 

Describing events on Tuesday, Rausch said the fire went to five alarms with departments responding from across Jefferson County. Strike teams arrived from Rock and Dane counties, and a task force came from Illinois, he added. 

On Tuesday, he said, some 150 firefighters were at the scene. On Wednesday, during a press briefing, he described that number as closer to 240. Over the course of the event, some 48 departments sent assets to the scene, Rausch said. 

During the Tuesday afternoon briefing, Rausch reported that the city’s water towers had been drawn down to 15 feet of water, which, he said, “is very near the minimum amount that we need to operate the city.”

With expansion of the fire prevented, Rausch said, “We’ve elected to let the balance of the building burn up and the contents that are in the building are going to be allowed to burn.” 

Rausch noted that officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) were on scene to monitor runoff, which, he said, was traveling through the city’s storm sewer system and into the Rock River. The DNR was also monitoring air quality at the scene, he said. 

Also addressing media on Tuesday, Fort Atkinson Police Chief Adrian Bump said some 50 people had been evacuated from their nearby homes. 

Mandatory evacuations were in place for residents living on the 700 block of Oak Street as well as approximately 8-12 homes on portions of nearby Cramer and Blackhawk, Bump said.

“Potentially like 50 people are displaced because of this fire, that’s an estimate,” he said.  

Additionally, he said, area businesses, including Green Bay Packaging and Opportunities Inc., proactively shut down on Tuesday and sent their employees home.

Shelter was offered at the city’s municipal building for those who needed it, Bump said. 

The police department issued a statement around 8 p.m.on Tuesday stating that those who had been evacuated were able to go home. 

Describing challenges faced by firefighters, Rausch said: “One of the reasons that we have this many firefighters and as many departments here is because of the heat. Generally, we work through about a 40-minute operational period for each firefighter before we rotate them. Today (Tuesday) we are only working on a 20-minute rotation so it takes a lot more people to be able to accomplish that. For that reason, I went within the first 15 minutes of the fire, I went to a third alarm, and within the first 45 minutes of the fire, I went to a fifth alarm, and within the first hour of the fire, we requested multiple strike teams, task force and interdivisional requests.”  

Rausch said the cause of the fire may likely never be determined. 

“I’ve been in contact with the state fire marshal and I can tell you from experience this will most likely go down as an undetermined fire because the building is a complete loss and collapsed, and it is unlikely that we will ever prove definitively what the cause was.” 

Addressing questions from media on Tuesday about water usage and pollution, Rausch said: “You have to kind of balance the runoff pollution potential with the air quality pollution potential. In this case, we were trying to balance that with using water to be able to control the fire without creating an immense amount of runoff because the runoff is even more hazardous to the environment than the smoke is. 

“At this point, that decision’s been made for us because our water system is down to a minimum, so we are going to allow the rest of the material to go ahead and burn up.”  

Speaking with Fort Atkinson Online Wednesday morning, Rausch said firefighters spent the night monitoring the fire. 

Popping sounds, which were emanating from the fire, were likely coming from pressurized vessels such as paint cans, which were bursting within the rubble, Rausch said. 

On Tuesday, he said, there were a few explosions, which were from LP gas tanks. 

After the fire burns out, Rausch said, the next steps would likely involve leveling the rubble and cleanup. The DNR will monitor the cleanup effort, he added. 

Looking at the year overall, regarding the number of fires in Fort Atkinson, Rausch said: “It has been a very unusual year.” 

As firefighters from myriad departments arrived for a shift change, LeMire expressed gratitude, saying: “I am humbled and thankful at the response of our neighbors. The vast majority of firefighters yesterday and overnight were volunteers who took time out of their jobs and lives and came here in our time of need. We never hope to reciprocate, but we hope to provide the same response in their time of need as they provided us.”  

Following are photos taken at the scene of the Oak Street fire early Wednesday morning.