Petersburg’s Volunteer Fire Department responded to a sauna fire on the morning of January 11th, about nine miles south of town, inside Service Area 1. The department left town at around 2:40 a.m., and contained the blaze in about 30 minutes.
Dave Berg is a spokesperson for the volunteer fire department. He says that when firefighters arrived on the scene, the approximately 15-by-20 foot outbuilding was completely enveloped in flames.
We deployed one hose to mop up what was left of the building,” said Berg. “Essentially, just putting out some spot fires and walking around the building and making sure everything was extinguished.”
It was a total loss, but other buildings on the property weren’t damaged.
Berg says the fire crew was fortunate there wasn’t a lot of material left to burn, and that the wind was blowing in their favor. If it had been blowing in a different direction, he believes other structures on the property could have caught fire as well.
The homeowner believes the fire started when a towel fell onto an electric heater and ignited. Berg says when temperatures drop, it’s not uncommon for his department to get called out on these types of fires.
“This time of year, we see a lot of [fires from] portable heating devices,” said Berg. “We always caution people to be careful when they deploy items such as this.”
Berg also advises people who use these appliances to be mindful when plugging them into extension cords. Older extension cords can malfunction and overheat, potentially sparking a fire.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. This was the first fire call of the year for the local department.
