Ellison Bay Fire Expected to Flare Up Again

Firefighters continue to monitor the grounds where a fire carved a 75 by 600 foot swath on a wooded bluff between Gills Rock and Northport Nov. 21.

“We don’t anticipate it’s done burning yet,” said Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Fire Chief Chris Hecht Monday, Nov. 24. “Typically, a fire like this will restart several times. We’ve been up there every day since the initial fire.”

Hecht said there are many openings in the stone, and old pine needles and dry brush works its way into those cracks and into the ground, serving as kindling and creating small pockets of smoke and fire.

“It’s been dry for a while and it was very windy on that particular day,” Hecht said. Hecht said old-timers from the area recalled fires like it in that area that burned intermittently for weeks.

The fire, reported at 8:41 am, caused no injuries and didn’t damage any buildings. Firefighters from the Gibraltar, Baileys Harbor, Ephraim, Jacksonport and Egg Harbor departments assisted the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove department in battling the blaze, squeezed on a ledge below one bluff and above another, for over four hours. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

Hecht said the fire, on a piece of property owned by Carl Zapffe, was not particularly dramatic.