CLICK ON SMOKEY FOR CURRENT BURNING RESTRICTIONS
The Oxford Fire Department would like to thank everyone who purchased a ticket this year for the annual July 4th Raffle as well as those who attended the festivities. Without your help the fireworks show would not be possible. We would like to extend a special thank you for the donation made in memory of Maribeth Bruchs of Oxford. The 2015 GOLD SPONSORS for this year's show include:
Adams-Marquette Veterinary Service-Oxford
Bad Brad’s Sports Bar-Oxford
Becker Auto& Towing-Westfield
Borud’s Hardware-Oxford
Bruchs’ Farms-Oxford
Bruchs’ Kids-Oxford
Bush’s Sticks & Stones-Oxford
Dan Lloyd-Oxford
DJ’s Bar & Grill-White Creek
EZ Promotions-Oxford
Generations Bar & Grill-Oxford
Greg & Sue Goodhue-Oxford
Holliday Auto-Oxford
Irrigation Station-Oxford
Jim White Oxford Trucking-Oxford
Karl’s Carpet Cleaning-Oxford
Ken’s Carpet Service-Brooks
Lance & Jill Klosa-Westfield
Longbranch Saloon-Germania
Midwest Drilling & Blasting-Westfield
Mooch Goodhue-Oxford
Nikki Edwards-Oxford
Oxford Lumber-Oxford
Oxford Music-Oxford
Oxford Pub & Grub-Oxford
Oxford Travel Plaza-Oxford
Pete Mikkelson-Chetek
Peterson Produce-Oxford
Pfister Light Truck& Auto-Adams
Proline East, LLC-Oxford
Redneck Bar-Brooks
Retzlaff Milk Transport, LLC-Berlin
Roos Well Drilling-Oxford
RPM Sales & Service-Chetek
Terry Phillips-DeForest
The Minnow Bucket-Oxford
Tom & Sandy King-Oxford
Village Spirits-Oxford
Wastart Contracting-Oxford
Weiner & Kate Nelson-Oxford
Willis Jungenberg-Oxford
9 Cees Dairy-Westfield
Congratulations to Oxford Fire Department's 14th Annual 4th of July Raffle winners! As Always thank you for all of your support!
1st Place-Treyten Roos, Oxford; 2nd Place-Karen Fisher, Oxford; 3rd Place-Bruchs’ Kids, Oxford; 4th Place-Midwest Drilling & Blasting, Westfield; 5th Place-Mooch Goodhue, Oxford; 6th Place-Oxford Music Games & Vending, Oxford; 7th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 8th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 9th Place-Jackie Benner, Westfield; 10th Place-Treyten Roos, Oxford; 11th Place-Jay & Erika Sengbusch, Oxford; 12th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 13th Place-Becker Auto, Westfield; 14th Place-Sandy King, Oxford; 15th Place-Dave Weishaar, Westfield; 16th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 17th Place-Kate Nelson, Oxford; 18th Place-Lonnie Barron, WI Dells; 19th Place-Becker Auto, Westfield; 20th Place-Troy Gauthier, Westfield; 21st Place-Nick & Brittany Fisher, Green Bay; 22nd Place-Steve Hines, Oxford; 23rd Place-Reid Weiner, Oxford; 24th Place-Jason Sengbusch, Oxford; 25th Place-Mooch Goodhue, Oxford; 26th Place-Pete Mikkelson, Chetek, WI.
Adams-Marquette Veterinary Service-Oxford
Bad Brad’s Sports Bar-Oxford
Becker Auto& Towing-Westfield
Borud’s Hardware-Oxford
Bruchs’ Farms-Oxford
Bruchs’ Kids-Oxford
Bush’s Sticks & Stones-Oxford
Dan Lloyd-Oxford
DJ’s Bar & Grill-White Creek
EZ Promotions-Oxford
Generations Bar & Grill-Oxford
Greg & Sue Goodhue-Oxford
Holliday Auto-Oxford
Irrigation Station-Oxford
Jim White Oxford Trucking-Oxford
Karl’s Carpet Cleaning-Oxford
Ken’s Carpet Service-Brooks
Lance & Jill Klosa-Westfield
Longbranch Saloon-Germania
Midwest Drilling & Blasting-Westfield
Mooch Goodhue-Oxford
Nikki Edwards-Oxford
Oxford Lumber-Oxford
Oxford Music-Oxford
Oxford Pub & Grub-Oxford
Oxford Travel Plaza-Oxford
Pete Mikkelson-Chetek
Peterson Produce-Oxford
Pfister Light Truck& Auto-Adams
Proline East, LLC-Oxford
Redneck Bar-Brooks
Retzlaff Milk Transport, LLC-Berlin
Roos Well Drilling-Oxford
RPM Sales & Service-Chetek
Terry Phillips-DeForest
The Minnow Bucket-Oxford
Tom & Sandy King-Oxford
Village Spirits-Oxford
Wastart Contracting-Oxford
Weiner & Kate Nelson-Oxford
Willis Jungenberg-Oxford
9 Cees Dairy-Westfield
Congratulations to Oxford Fire Department's 14th Annual 4th of July Raffle winners! As Always thank you for all of your support!
1st Place-Treyten Roos, Oxford; 2nd Place-Karen Fisher, Oxford; 3rd Place-Bruchs’ Kids, Oxford; 4th Place-Midwest Drilling & Blasting, Westfield; 5th Place-Mooch Goodhue, Oxford; 6th Place-Oxford Music Games & Vending, Oxford; 7th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 8th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 9th Place-Jackie Benner, Westfield; 10th Place-Treyten Roos, Oxford; 11th Place-Jay & Erika Sengbusch, Oxford; 12th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 13th Place-Becker Auto, Westfield; 14th Place-Sandy King, Oxford; 15th Place-Dave Weishaar, Westfield; 16th Place-Randy Bruchs, Oxford; 17th Place-Kate Nelson, Oxford; 18th Place-Lonnie Barron, WI Dells; 19th Place-Becker Auto, Westfield; 20th Place-Troy Gauthier, Westfield; 21st Place-Nick & Brittany Fisher, Green Bay; 22nd Place-Steve Hines, Oxford; 23rd Place-Reid Weiner, Oxford; 24th Place-Jason Sengbusch, Oxford; 25th Place-Mooch Goodhue, Oxford; 26th Place-Pete Mikkelson, Chetek, WI.
Oxford Fire Department in uniform for Memorial Day 2015
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Hunter Holliday receiving his black traditional helmet from chief Tim Houslet. Hunter has successfully completed one year of probationary status on Oxford Fire District and now is a full member of the OFD family.
One year down and many more to come congrats Hunter. |
Engine 156 was placed into service the fall of 2014. It is a 1998 Spartan Engine, this truck has 1000 gallons of water on board, round the pump foam system, seats 6 firefighters and holds numerous pieces of firefighting and rescue tools. It replaces our previous ailing reserve engine which was purchased in 1982. This engine gives us the storage to have two engines set up as identical as possible with equipment and personal.
This new engine has enhance the level of protection even more that we provide to the Oxford Fire District!
This new engine has enhance the level of protection even more that we provide to the Oxford Fire District!
August 2014 marked 6 years in the new fire station. Many members still vividly remember the crowded old station. Gearing up while trucks squeezed by you, wedging yourself between trucks as you climbed in the cabs, edging out of the station or backing in with extreme care, and the list goes on. The department will celebrate 75 years of service in 2014, and we are deeply appreciative of the strong public and District Board support of our efforts. An updated rescue truck, updated military 6X6 grass truck, an ATV and many other pieces of equipment have been added in the past 5 years, and the department continues to train and improve so that we can serve our district as efficiently as possible.
Oxford Firefighter Jim White was surprised with a cake at the December department meeting, in recognition of his 70th birthday. Jim has been a driver and pump operator for the department for many years, and also donates a large amount of time plowing snow at the station every winter.
The Village of Lake Delton has dedicated its new Fire/EMS facility with a ceremony on October 15th. The dedication began at 11AM, followed by an open house. The new station is located across the street from the vacant Broadway Theatre, and the Wilderness Resort complex. State-of-the-art in every aspect, the new station now allows for expansion from current full-time EMS, to potential full-time fire in the future.
Home Fire Safety Update (from CALIFORNIA!!!)
Every year, fire departments large and small put fire safety at the top of their "to do list". The Oxford Fire Department has for many years now provided local fire safety/prevention training and demonstrations at the Oxford Grade School, and we are always gratified as we hear back from the students through the years with regard to how much they appreciated the help of the firefighters in teaching them fire safety. Assistant Chief Stephen Klump has been the driving force through the last 30 years to make sure that this task is completed, especially in October, during fire safety month, as well as the rest of the year. Through the years, Steve has researched many different resources, and when the department started our web site, he was again at the forefront, providing resources for our LINKS section, which offers additional safety tips and features. He has been assisted by a number of our firefighters and EMT's during many of the presentations, and they have always done an outstanding job.
When I developed the web site, it was my hope that it would provide information at various levels for people not only in our fire district, but "across the net", for those that have been supportive of our efforts, or wish to offer further assistance to our readers as it involves fire safety. You never really know who looks at our site, unless they tell you. It is always gratifying, as well as helpful, when we hear from someone.
We are always looking for ways to provide new information to our site that will keep the site updated and interesting. Recently, I received a fantastic email from the California mother of three children. Her youngest daughter Abby, a fifth grader, had spent a great deal of time to research home fire safety for a school assignment and presentation. To my surprise, Abby found our web site, and was able to use information provided in the Links section for her report. I know that Assistant Chief Klump works hard to teach fire safety, and that he is always looking for additional information to get his message across. During her research, Abby came across another site that also provided useful information for her project, and her mother immediately thought of our site, and suggested that we might be able to add this to our LINKS. It is a fantastic site, which I spent a fair amount of time going through, and have found the material very helpful. There are literally thousands of sites out there, and we are always checking different ones out to see if they can be added to our information, but it would take someone hours on end to go through every site, so we really appreciate the work that Abby did for her research, AND that she shared it with the other children and adults that come to our site. Learning is fun, and new things provide new challenges.
The site is provided by a Canadian company called Kanetix. I will need to contact the company to get their approval to include it on our web site, but I can safely offer it to you in this news article at this point, until I obtain the approval I need to add it to our LINKS. The site may be viewed at: kanetix.ca/insure-your-home-fire-safety-basics. There is an incredible amount of information out there, and it is almost impossible to find it all, so I thank Abby for her interest in home fire safety and I thank her mother for alerting us to this site.
Friends Helping Friends
With recent surgeries to his knee, Chief Houslet has been limited to his activities. Captain "Jar" Jungenberg rallied available volunteers to help the Chief and Leneya get their yard ready for the summer. A few rakes, leaf blowers, pitch forks, tractor and atv's, put to use under the watchful eye of the Chief, and the job was done in two hours. Firefighters, wives, girlfriends, children and grandchildren pitched in to make it a fast task, and everyone had fun in the process. Nobody tripped over anything, nobody over-exerted, nobody got run over by a tractor or atv and EVERYONE got dirty....all while sharing in the friendship that volunteer fire departments are known for.
Chief Houslet Turns the Big 60!!!!
A surprise birthday party was held at the Oxford Fire Station in honor of Chief Houslet's 60th birthday. Tim's wife Leneya, daughters Heather and Ashley planned the event (son KC appeared via Skype), and were gracious hosts as friends and family from around the area stopped by to pay tribute to Tim. A highlight of the event was the appearance of a piper and drummer, who provided some traditional Scottish music for everyone. Tim is an avid fan of the pipes and drums, and has always enjoyed the role that they play in the fire service. It was a beautifully planned day, honoring a man who has given so much to his community.
Oxford Area Begins the Spring Brush Fire Season
The Wisconsin DNR Fire Service has kicked off the Spring fire season with notice that burning permits are required, and that at present, the fire threat is low. As of April 22nd, almost daily rain or snow has kept the threat to practically nothing, but we know that this can change with a few dry and windy days. Residents are encouraged to check the Wisconsin DNR website for additional information and updates. You are able to obtain a burn permit on-line from this site, or it may be obtained locally.
Jackson Township Structure Fire
February 28, 2013 - 4:58 PM
Oxford Fire was paged to a structure fire at 492 Fur Lane in Jackson Township after smoke alarms alerted the homeowner to the fire. Command 3 (Captain Spath) arrived ahead of Engine 155 and, after sizing up the situation, ordered 155 to lay a 5 inch line from the road up to the house. Engine 156 would later hook up to the hose for relay pumping.
The single story ranch home was filling with smoke, and it was traced to heavy smoke coming from a bathroom. Engine 155 arrived as smoke began to come out of vents and the eaves. A 1 3/4 inch charged line was advanced in to the house. When Tanker 151 arrived, the 3000 gallon tank was set up at the edge of the driveway, but not filled. Kilbourn Fire from Wisconsin Dells was paged for a tanker, and responded with Tanker 5, which stood by with Oxford 151.
The roads were snow packed and very slippery, so if water was dropped, it was going to be difficult to get close to the portable tank with the icy roads and the fact that the driveway was just over the crest of a hill. Adams County Sheriff's Department had two deputies on scene assisting with traffic control, and also coordinating with Jackson Township road crews to get a plow and salt to the scene.
The fire was contained to the bathroom, with no extension, and the attack team was able to extinguish the fire with less than 200 gallons of water, so tanker operations were never used. Approximately 25 firefighters from both departments were at the scene for just under two hours. The cause of the fire was determined to be an overheated vacuum cleaner that had caused the owner some problems, then after it was put away in the bathroom closet, it ignited and spread to contents of the closet. Fire and water damage was limited to the bathroom, but smoke damage was throughout the house. There were no injuries.
Oxford Fire was paged to a structure fire at 492 Fur Lane in Jackson Township after smoke alarms alerted the homeowner to the fire. Command 3 (Captain Spath) arrived ahead of Engine 155 and, after sizing up the situation, ordered 155 to lay a 5 inch line from the road up to the house. Engine 156 would later hook up to the hose for relay pumping.
The single story ranch home was filling with smoke, and it was traced to heavy smoke coming from a bathroom. Engine 155 arrived as smoke began to come out of vents and the eaves. A 1 3/4 inch charged line was advanced in to the house. When Tanker 151 arrived, the 3000 gallon tank was set up at the edge of the driveway, but not filled. Kilbourn Fire from Wisconsin Dells was paged for a tanker, and responded with Tanker 5, which stood by with Oxford 151.
The roads were snow packed and very slippery, so if water was dropped, it was going to be difficult to get close to the portable tank with the icy roads and the fact that the driveway was just over the crest of a hill. Adams County Sheriff's Department had two deputies on scene assisting with traffic control, and also coordinating with Jackson Township road crews to get a plow and salt to the scene.
The fire was contained to the bathroom, with no extension, and the attack team was able to extinguish the fire with less than 200 gallons of water, so tanker operations were never used. Approximately 25 firefighters from both departments were at the scene for just under two hours. The cause of the fire was determined to be an overheated vacuum cleaner that had caused the owner some problems, then after it was put away in the bathroom closet, it ignited and spread to contents of the closet. Fire and water damage was limited to the bathroom, but smoke damage was throughout the house. There were no injuries.
Freezing Rain=Trouble
The Oxford area experienced a fair amount of rainfall on Sunday, February 10th, and as the rain fell and hit the frozen highway, it turned to ice. Shortly before noon the department was paged to a head-on accident on STH 82, just west of Oxford, in Adams County. Rescue 152, Engine 155 and EMS 81 responded under the direction of Captain Karl Spath and found that a westbound car had hit an eastbound semi unit head-on, sending both vehicles into the ditches. The driver and only occupant of the car was ejected from the vehicle, and was found deceased some distance from the car. The driver of the semi was not hurt. The semi driver indicated that the car suddenly slid into his lane, and he was unable to avoid hitting it. In 16 years of driving, this was his first accident. The Adams County Sheriff's Department and the Wisconsin State Patrol were doing a reconstruction of the accident as part of the investigation, so the road remained close for almost 4 hours while fire personnel rerouted traffic.
