Busy Day For NFDL Firefighters

North Fond du Lac Firefighters were busy Thursday afternoon with a natural gas leak and two fires in the village. First a call came in after a utility doing work hit a gas line near the PDQ store. Fire Chief Jake Flaherty says it caused pavement in the roadway to buckle at the intersection of Wisconsin and Lincoln and they evacuated and blocked off several blocks because of the natural gas and methane readings they were getting. Power was shut down to alleviate the situation, which caused other problems. Smoke was coming from a water pump house and firefighters had to break in to ventilate it. There was no fire. Department of Public Works officials told them there is usually smoke when the backup generator kicks in, but because the power was out the ventilation system wasn’t working. Flaherty says they also responded to a call about a fire in an apartment building on Saratoga Avenue. It turns out a tenant had left something on the stove and forgot to turn it off when the power went out. When power was restored the food started to burn. No one was injured during the incidents. Flaherty thanks the Fond du Lac and Van Dyne Fire Departments, and RIT District for their help. Domino’s Pizza of Fond du Lac also supplied pizza to weary firefighters at the end of the night.