Fire at landmark pavilion under investigation

No cause determined yet
By: 
Tim Ryan
Reporter

SHAWANO — Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire early Friday morning that destroyed the Deer Camp and Pavilion bar in the town of Waukechon, though the blaze is not being called suspicious.

The building at N4096 County Road K was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

“We’re working with sheriff’s department investigators and we’ll go from there,” Shawn Borlace, chief of the Shawano Area Fire Department said.

Borlace said he couldn’t comment on where in the building the fire might have started because of the investigation.

“It’s just a routine investigation,” he said. “We do this on any major fire like this.”

Borlace said the fire, which reported just after 5 a.m., was “heavily involved” very early on.

“It will be tough to pinpoint the cause or origin one way or the other,” he said.

There were a total of eight fire departments involved in fighting the fire and shuttling water to the scene to fight the blaze.

That included fire departments from Shawano, Pulaski, Bonduel, Clintonville, the town of Navarino, Cecil, town of Washington and Keshena.

The lack of a water source at the scene complicated matters.

“We have to run water shuttle,” Borlace said. “And that’s a definite problem on any major-size structure, trying to get enough water to put the fire out. It takes a lot of trucks to haul the water.”

Firefighters had cleared the scene by Friday afternoon, but sheriff’s investigators were still on site investigating the origin and cause.

The Shawano County Sheriff’s Department said there was no additional information as of Friday afternoon.