Wiring blamed for house fire
By Randy Hanson
She had gone to a movie with a friend after work Wednesday, Oct. 20, and called home to try out the new phone and check on her daughter Darcy. No one answered, so she turned the phone over to her friend, who used it to retrieve messages from her answering machine. The second message was from her sister-in-law, who said the house was on fire, but Darcy was safe. Even with the advance warning, it was a shock to drive down North Cherry Circle and see the destruction to her four-year-old split-level home, Kobylarczyk said. "And then it was even worse to see it in the daylight." Four neighbors almost simultaneously noticed smoke and flames rolling from the attached garage at the North Hudson residence. The first 911 call was recorded at 4:50 p.m. and the Hudson Fire Department was on the scene six minutes later, but by then the garage and a car parked in front of it were engulfed in fire. Firefighters succeeded in putting out the fire before it leveled the house, but her insurance company has said it is a total loss, according to Kobylarczyk. Fire Department Investigator Dan Roeglin said the fire was caused by a fault somewhere in the house's electrical system. The fire started in the garage, he said. Roeglin said the garage went up in flames quickly because the door was open, giving the fire plenty of oxygen on the windy day. "The fact that the garage door was open really gave it a great start on us. It's pretty rare for us to get there that quickly and have (the fire) through the roof," Roeglin said. The Kobylarczyk's next-door neighbor Maynard Olson ran through the house yelling to make sure no one was there before the fire department arrived. Authorities were concerned at first that someone was in the house because a TV had been left on. But Darcy was then found a few blocks away at the Old Log Cabin Restaurant on Sixth Street. The fire department first used its deck gun on Engine 3161 to hit the blaze with a large stream of water. Then crews manning fire hoses attacked the flames. "The practice in that situation is to try to hit it with a large deluge of water to knock it down," said Fire Chief Dean Rossing. When the visible flames were extinguished, firefighters went inside the house and pulled down ceilings to get at the fire in the attic. Also, the aerial truck was brought in to attack the fire from above. The town of St. Joseph and Lower St. Croix Valley fire departments provided mutual aid. "It makes a hell of a mess, obviously," Rossing said. Kobylarczyk, St. Croix County's clerk of court from 1976 to 1992, said Monday that the reality of the fire was just starting to sink in for her. "You're kind of in shock," she said. "You hope you're going to wake up and learn it was all just a bad dream." She said her large extended family has been very supportive. She and Darcy are living with her mother, Mabel Rohl of rural River Falls, for now. Kobylarczyk has two other children who are students at UW-Eau Claire, Shawn, a senior, and Nikki, a sophomore. "Because of my family I think I can function," she said. "I'm probably much more fortunate than a lot of people are because I do have a big family. And they all live around here and they're all willing to help." "I feel so grateful that my daughter wasn't hurt and no one else was injured. That's the really important thing," she added. "Somehow we'll fix the rest of it." She said she is grateful for firefighters, good neighbors and insurance. "Right now my plan is to rebuild there," she said. Darcy's car also was destroyed in the blaze and the vinyl siding of a neighbor's house to the south melted. Olson, who lives on the north side of the Kobylarczyk residence, protected his house by spraying the roof with a garden hose.
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