Wessington Springs residents didn’t have much time to hit the snooze button Monday morning as they were jarred out of bed by the fire whistle’s steady wail at approximately 6:30 a.m.
Wessington Springs Volunteer Firemen sprung into action, responding to a grassland and shelter belt fire southwest of town.
After several hours of fighting and containing the fire, dispatch sounded once again, alerting the firefighters of a blaze at the city rubble site.
Firemen remobilized at the municipality’s rubble site north of town and with the help of city and county loaders and operators, contained the fire.
Or so they thought. “We believed we had that one contained but apparently we did not,” said WSVFD Chief Jim Vavra of the rubble site fire whose cause is still unknown. “We were dispatched shortly after to return to the rubble site and stayed until about 6 p.m. to set a better containment line.”
After returning to the fire hall and getting to the important work of preparing trucks and equipment for the next emergency, at approximately 7:30 p.m. dispatch rang yet again for a motor vehicle accident on Highway 281.
“We would like to thank Grohs Farms for the equipment, water and food for the fire southwest of town,” said Vavra. “And thanks to the city crew and county guys for helping get the rubble site fire contained. We’d also like to thank Jerauld County Ambulance and Jerauld County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance.”