Dry conditions lead to marsh fire – 20 foot flames

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Multiple fire departments from Winnebago and Fond du Lac Counties battled a marsh fire Sunday afternoon, October 20, 2024 on Mountain Road, between the roads of County Highway M and Sportman Road, about a mile northwest of Pickett in Winnebago County.

The initial call for the fire came in just before 2 PM reporting the fire burning two acres with flames 20 feet tall.

Due to the winds and dry weather, the fire grew in size and a MABAS call went out to bring in mutual aid from surrounding departments. In Fond du Lac County, Ripon, Rosendale, Brandon/Fairwater, Van Dyne and Eldorado Fire Departments sent crews.

At one point, the smoke plume was so thick that it showed up on National Weather Service radar and ash was said to be falling as far away as Oshkosh.

No details on how the fire started have been released, but fire fighters were still on scene putting out flames after nightfall.

Early Monday morning, the fire reportedly had rekindled and some of the fire departments were responding back to the scene.

Due to the lack of rain in the area lately, the Wisconsin DNR has Fond du Lac and Winnebago Counties under a high risk for wildfire danger and Green Lake and Waushara Counties under a very high risk.