Gregory firefighters battled same blaze twice in subzero temps after ember reignites home

Hunter Dunteman, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
·2 min read

Feb. 23—GREGORY, S.D. — Firefighters in Gregory were forced into the cold twice this week, after a remaining ember from a house fire sparked a second blaze just hours after they left the scene.

Shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, fire crews were called to a home in the 900 block of North Main Street in Gregory. Upon arrival, firefighters entered the structure to battle the blaze from inside. The home had a tin roof, making it more difficult for crews to get water inside the home, which led to firefighters breaking windows for access.

Firefighters fought flames for approximately 90 minutes in near-zero temperatures before clearing the scene.

Gregory Volunteer Fire Chief Joel Bartling said he was on his way back to the scene Tuesday morning with a fire marshal to begin an investigation when the pagers went off again. Fire crews were being summoned to the same address as the night before.

"There must have been a small ember somewhere," Bartling said. "Enough air must have gotten in and got it going again."

With temperatures hovering around 5-below zero, firefighters geared up and headed to the scene.

As fire crews battled the second blaze for hours, Bartling began to realize his men couldn't be out the freezing temperatures for too long, as gear was getting wet and firefighters were getting tired.

"With those temperatures it can get dangerous pretty quickly," Bartling said. "We were so iced up that everyone went to go warm up."

Bartling called in mutual aid, bringing in firefighters from Burke.

As water froze any time a flow ceased, the two departments spent four hours fighting the second fire, before clearing the scene.

"It was definitely an uphill battle," Bartling said of the fires.

Nobody was home at the time of any fires, and Bartling said the residents are displaced, but are temporarily lodging with friends or family.

The Gregory Volunteer Fire Department expressed their gratitude in a Facebook post to Mr. G's and Lubbers Farms for providing hot coffee breakfast pizza to firefighters working the scene.