Fire Damages Belgian Rose Building in Carlsville

Firefighters from across Northern Door and Sturgeon Bay responded to a fire at the Belgian Rose, 5597 Hwy 42 in Carlsville Saturday.

A fire destroyed much of the Belgian Rose building in Carlsville Saturday.

The blaze destroyed much of the second and third floors of the 106 year-old brick home. Firefighters responded to a page at 2:30 pm, with the first personnel arriving on scene at 2:33 pm. No injuries were reported.

Egg Harbor Fire Chief Steve Schopf said fire fighters from every department from Sturgeon Bay north responded to the call as part of the county’s automatic mutual aid response. “It was truly a group effort,” he said.

Foam freezes on the uniforms of two fire fighters battling the blaze.

Schopf said the fire probably had a good head start before firefighters arrived.

“Within five minutes of our arrival the entire roof was in flames,” he said. It took about an hour to control the blaze, and a pet cat was rescued from the blaze. “The third floor was completely destroyed and the second floor was badly damaged when the third floor collapsed. The first floor suffered significant smoke and water damage.”

The brick structure presented a challenge for firefighters. Schopf compared it to crawling into a burning barrel that holds all the flames and heat inside. Since the building’s double-brick wall structure held up, Egg Harbor’s aerial ladder was crucial in attacking the blaze. The ladder enabled the department to douse the flames from above the 35-foot high structure.

“We wouldn’t have been able to reach it with ground ladders,” Schopf said.

Fire Chief Steve Schopf said the aerial ladder was crucial for getting water on the flames.

He said it would be difficult to determine the cause due to the extent of the damage. It was the first major fire of 2010 for the Egg Harbor Fire Department, “and hopefully the last.”