BRISTOL, Wis. – A brush fire burned 40 to 50 acres in the Village of Bristol Monday afternoon, coming within feet of homes in a neighborhood near 214th Avenue.
Fire officials say 10 homes were told to evacuate as a precaution. No homes were damaged, and no one was injured.
Residents and fire officials say the fire broke out around 2:30 p.m., with a wall of flames coming close to several homes in the area.
"The wind was just blowing. It was not in our favor today, and every time they put one out, another one pops up. They move to another spot, another hot spot, and then another one pops up. It's been scary," Joby Fugett, a resident, said.
Neighbor Tom Underhill said he initially thought a house was on fire before realizing the blaze was coming from a nearby swamp.
"Everything was ablaze, thick, black smoke. I thought the neighbor's house was on fire, so I took my phone, started walking down there. I had 911, on the line, and I noticed it wasn't Joby's house on fire. It was a swamp that was on fire," Underhill said.
The fire escalated to a fifth alarm, in part because a separate fire was burning in Burlington at the same time, according to Village of Bristol Fire Chief John Niederer.
About 25 departments responded to the Bristol fire. Crews battled the fire for more than two hours. Niederer said dry and windy conditions created a dangerous combination and that officials are considering a burn ban.
"Open burning right now is — it's pretty dangerous. We try not to have open burning with over 15 miles an hour. We're monitoring the conditions right now. With all how dry it is, we may put a burn ban in place in the future," Niederer said.
Underhill echoed that warning.
"It would be not wise to do any house fires, burning any garbage or anything until we get some rain. It's very dry. Wouldn't take much, as is evident by what happened today," Underhill said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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