TOWN OF LAWRENCE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A fire destroyed a building and sent smoke billowing across a busy interstate highway at rush hour Thursday morning.
Authorities say the fire was at Macht Village Programs, 3310 Mid Valley Dr., in the town of Lawrence.
Assistant Chief Luke Pasterski of the Lawrence Fire Department said callers began reporting smoke across Interstate 41 just before 6:30 a.m.
“While we were en route, we got another report from an off-duty fireman that there was a lot of smoke,” he said. “We upgraded the alarm level using the MABAS box alarm system.”
He said most agencies from the west side of the county responded.
“When we got here, there were flames and smoke coming from the roof,” Pasterski said.
Pasterski and other firefighters did a circle around the building to see if anyone was inside.
“We couldn’t tell looking from the outside. We attempted to send crews in to verify that no one was in the building, however, the roof started to collapse at that time, so we had to pull our crews out.”
Brown County’s dispatch center was able to get in contact with a Macht Village Programs representative who said the building should not be occupied.
“At that time, we went to a defensive fire operation, which means it was firefighting from the exterior side of the building for the safety of the firefighters that were here on scene,” Pasterski said.
According to the business’ website, Macht Village Programs assists children and young adults with severe emotional and behavioral problems.
“There were no injuries at all and no one was believed to be in the building,” Pasterski said.
Pasterski said it took several hours to get the fire under control.
“We don’t have any idea on what may have started it or anything like that,” Pasterski said.
The building is considered a total loss.
“We do have the Brown County Fire Investigation Task Force on scene now, which is multiple agencies in the county that form a team together and do a thorough investigation of the scene,” Pasterski said.
