Bonfire explosion injures multiple students, alumni

The Pulaski community is rallying around each other after a bonfire exploded and injured an undetermined number of people.

The bonfire took place about 10 p.m. Oct. 14, but the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department reported that the Brown County Dispatch Center contacted them early the next morning regarding several people showing up with burns at area hospitals. According to Detective Craig Rekoske, one of the victims told hospital officials that the injuries were from a bonfire explosion at a home on Cedar Drive in the Town of Maple Grove.

The sheriff’s department reported that at least 17 victims have been located up to this point. However Mallory Kinchen, who is doing an online fundraiser through www.spotfund.com, indicated that at least 30 students and alumni in the Pulaski Community School District were injured at the bonfire during the district’s homecoming weekend. Further, it was reported that six were burned badly enough to need to be transported to St. Mary’s Hospital’s burn center in Milwaukee.

Several GoFundMe pages for various individuals indicated a container of gasoline was thrown onto the fire, but that has not been confirmed by law enforcement.

Rekoske reported that an accelerant was applied to the fire, which caused it to expand out of control.

The request for information and support was echoed on Facebook by the Pulaski Police Department.

“As a close-knit community, this is where we need to rely on each other to come together and provide information and assistance,” the Facebook statement read. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected by this.”

Kinchen’s Spot Fund effort is hoping to raise at least $2,000 to provide gas and restaurant gift cards for the families whose loved ones are in the St. Mary’s burn unit. She said she is working with the school district and village police to make sure those cards get to the right people.

The district put out a statement on Facebook recommending students and families in need of support contact crisis lines for Shawano County at 715-526-3240 or Oconto County at 920-496-7000 to speak with mental health and grief counselors.

Chief Deputy George Lenzner sent out an update on Oct. 17 that said multiple detectives are gathering further details, but the school district is not permitting sheriff’s officials to interview students on school grounds. Detectives will be conducting interviews from 4-9 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Pulaski Police Department, 585 E. Glenbrook Drive, Pulaski.

“We are asking that any victims or witnesses who have not spoken to law enforcement, to please come during this time to meet with our detectives,” Lenzner said in the release. “The sheriff’s office is attempting to, and wants to gather as much information as possible regarding this case, which includes statements and possible videos to show what happened at this tragic event.”

Lenzner said the department believes there were anywhere from 30-40 total victims, along with other witnesses who were not injured.

There is also no indication of the severity of all of the injuries, but the sheriff’s department reports some critical cases, along with some victims already being released from the hospital as of Oct. 17.

Superintendent Allison Space did not return a call from NEW Media seeking comment, instead releasing a statement by email. She wrote that the district is encouraging anyone with information to step forward, but its main mission is “staying focused on student learning.”

“This is a law enforcement investigation, and while the district will cooperate and encourage anyone with information to cooperate, our responsibility is to focus on maintaining the educational environment of our schools,” Space wrote. “This is an unprecedented situation, but it is in times of crisis that the Pulaski community has shown time and again that we will pull together to overcome.”