Maple Grove Fire Blotter: Grass Fires, Downed Power Line

Several grass, vegetation fires were among the incidents responded to by the for the week of April 2 through April 8, 2012.

The first incident was reported about 3 p.m. April 3 on the 11200 block of Fountains Drive of a small fire in landscape mulch in roadway median. The next day, around 10 a.m., two stations responded to a request for .

Firefighters responded to a report of a grass fire at around 10 p.m. April 5. According to the incident report, a discarded cigarette potentially started the fire.

A report of smoke around 3:30 p.m. April 6 brought firefighters to the intersection of Elm Creek Boulevard and Fountains Drive. According to the incident report, firefighters found an “area of landscaping mulch material that had burned but was out.” The reporting party extinguished it with a bucket of water before emergency responders arrived at the scene.

More smoldering landscaping mulch caused a call around 1 p.m. April 8 to the 9400 block of Dunkirk Lane North in which a hose line and tank water used to extinguish the fire.

“As for problems with these types of fires, the issue is the terrain,” Maple Grove Fire Chief Scott Anderson said email interview with Patch about the challenges of fighting grass fires. “In our suburban area, we typically see the bigger wild land fires in farm fields and in marshy areas near lakes and streams.  You cannot typically get trucks in close, and personnel cannot get close to the fire…”

According to Anderson, fighting grass fires can be “very physically taxing for personnel” and have an increased potential for injury.

Other items on the Maple Grove Fire Department incident list for the week of April 2 to April 8 included:

• 17200 block of 68th Avenue North on a report of a contractor striking a half-inch natural gas line. 
• 17500 block of 83rd Avenue North on a report of a commercial truck striking a guide wire for power pole and pulled down power lines, cable television lines, and telephone lines to ground. 
• 12900 block of 63rd Avenue North on a fire alarm. According to the incident report, firefighters “arrived on scene and found building had not been evacuated.” It was later determined a tenant had burned food which triggered the alarm.

There were also three unauthorized burning incidents, eight calls resulting from false or malfunctioning alarm and one report of a suspicious smoke smell.