Oconto County firefighters help out in Michigan

An Oconto County contingent was among the small army of firefighters that responded to the huge Oct. 6 fire at the Resolute Forest Products warehouse in Menominee, Michigan.

The fire burned for days and has prompted an Environmental Protection Agency investigation that includes surface water sampling and testing related to potential run-off from the incident site to the Menominee wastewater treatment plant and adjacent Menominee River.

During the Oct. 11 meeting of the Oconto Falls City Council, Fire Chief Tim Magnin said he ended up being the strike team leader for a group that included firefighters from five departments.

“We ran it kind of like a MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) deployment, although it actually wasn’t because Menominee from my understanding did not sign the Michigan MABAS, so it had to go to the governor as state-to-state resources,” Magnin said. “We went with four engines and a ladder – an engine from the Falls, engine from Oconto, Suring and the city of Gillett and a ladder from Pulaski; we responded as a group.”

Mustering in Oconto, the group went to Michigan together, providing assistance for a township that had been called from “way up north.” The engines pumped for more than six hours hours straight, leaving after eight hours because the governors had only agreed to eight hours of interstate coverage, Magnin said.

“We got back Saturday around 2:30 in the morning. So it was a long day but everybody did a great job, and they were very thankful for the response that we had from our county,” he said. “The sad part is because they didn’t have a MABAS agreement, the state of Wisconsin’s going to bill them for all those resources and man hours. We could see some of that money coming back our way for truck use and firefighters.”

The EPA continued to monitor air and surface water pollution for more than a week after the fire was brought under control.