Overnight fire destroys house south of Ripon

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Several area fire departments responded to a house fire in the western part of Fond du Lac County Friday morning, February 21, 2025.

Just before 3 AM, a call came into the Fond du Lac County Communications Center of a house fire at the intersection of County Highway KK and Highways 44/49. Initially the Brandon/Fairwater, Alto and Ripon Fire Departments were paged as well as Ripon Guardian Ambulance and Brandon/Fairwater First Responders.

An officer first on the scene observed an explosion come from the home. He also found three people injured, with one having significant bleeding after jumping from a second story window. Two victims were transported to the Ripon Medical Center by Ripon Guardian Ambulance and the third was transported by private vehicle. ThedaStar medical Helicopter was called to the hospital to transport one of the victims to ThedaCare Medical Center in Neenah.

Due to the size of the fire, the call was upgraded to a MABAS call which then brought in mutual aid from multiple other departments. At 4:30 AM the fire was upgraded to a third alarm MABAS call bringing in departments from as far away as Princeton and Beaver Dam.

According to a press release from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, five dogs and six cats were not able to exit and perished as a result of the fire in the approximately 2500 square foot house.

It’s unknown at this time what started the fire.