Posted: 9/4/07
Eitzen firemen evacuate Dorchester campground after August 27 storm
By Tom Murphy
Special for the Caledonia Argus
It was a busy eight days for the Eitzen Fire Department. Monday, August 27 ended a string of emergency responses to areas hit by August floods, when a rapidly rising Waterloo Creek forced the evacuation of the campground near Dorchester.
Shortly after 7:30 a.m., the fire department was dispatched by Allamakee County Sheriffís Office. About 15-20 mobile homes were threatened and the fire department made sure everyone had left their homes. "The water came up quickly," fire chief Charlie Kruse said, "probably up to the skirts of the mobile homes."
As the firemen were working, a 250 gallon propane tank broke loose and was floating down the creek, discharging propane. The tank crashed into an unoccupied mobile home. Four foot deep water kept the firemen from getting close enough to control the danger. It was just as well because within minutes the tank exploded setting the mobile home on fire. It was fully enveloped before firemen could reach the blaze, Kruse said.
"The water rose at a phenomenal rate," Kruse recalled. "Within two hours, it was back in its banks."
The week before, Eitzen firemen had played an important role providing mutual aid to Houston County communities affected by flooding. "It has been rough for the whole county," Kruse said.
Early Sunday morning, August 19, Eitzen sent 10 firemen to Caledonia and sent eight or nine of them to Brownsville where they did search and rescue from the homes affected by mud slides and flooding. Their duty lasted from 1:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., he said. That afternoon, another 14 firemen went to Houston. There, they monitored the flood levee, then filled sand bags, and pumped water from flooded areas. The Eitzen Fire Department also sent four firemen to Rushford to help clean its fire house, Kruse said.
People in the Eitzen-Dorchester area know about flooding of Waterloo Creek. A similar evacuation was needed in the late 1990ís, Kruse said. People still talk about the flood of July 1978 when the water was quite a bit higher. In 1978 homes were threatened. Some remember that privately owned boats had to be used to evacuate people.
Eitzenís fire department volunteers also double as first responders. "It seems as if the first responders part has become 90 percent of our calls. It is a growing trend across Minnesota."
Unique to Eitzen firemenís mission is that it serves townships in Iowa where Dorchester is located as well as townships around Eitzen in Minnesota. 2007 had been a quiet year for Eitzenís 28 volunteers. "We were half way through August and our calls had not even equaled half of what we get in a year," Kruse reported. "That all changed on that Saturday and Sunday," he said of the flood.
What about the cost of those calls? Kruse said the volunteers do not receive any pay for answering emergency calls. They are paid $4 for each meeting they attend and there are only two of them a month.
Retiring firemen do receive a small pension. The major fundraiser for the department is the Pork-Q on Saturday, September 15. A substantial portion of those proceeds go towards that pension, Kruse said.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com