THE BRIGHT SIDE

A fire earlier this month.
The fire gutted a John’s Disposal recycling building located in Whitewater shortly before 10 p.m. on January 8th the fire broke out and the first crews that responded to the 911 call found one building fully engulfed in flames. The building was a sorting and recycling facility that was built by the owner himself 25 years ago. The fire went past five alarms due to the cold conditions and a lack of water. There is no water supply at the John’s Disposal site, officials said. More than 30 agencies ended up responding, because of the cold, the lack of water on site and the size of the fire. In spite of that, firefighters did get the fire under control before it spread to other structures. The fire department ran lines to the power plant to the west of the property and also had as many as 15 tenders working at a time to bring water to the site. Departments from as close as LaGrange to as far away as Dane and Kenosha counties responded. There were no injuries to John’s Disposal staff or to firefighters. That building has several levels and is partially collapsed. The fire is under investigation, it is estimated that the value lost in the fire is in the millions of dollars.