Mankato and regional firefighters have been more than busy. In Lake Crystal alone, firefighters responded to four house fires in a week.
Other fires occurred in Courtland, St. James, Janesville, Mankato, North Mankato and Sleepy Eye, adding up to about a dozen house fires.
Lake Crystal Fire Chief Jeff Becker said the situation has been a challenge for firefighters.
The fires happened at difficult times, including late hours and midday when limited staff was available. The drastically cold temperatures have compounded challenges, leading to freezing pipes and water coating the firefighting areas in slick ice.
Consequently, the Mankato, North Mankato and Lake Crystal fire chiefs held a joint press conference Tuesday to urge residents to be vigilant about fire safety.
The chiefs said the fires have been frustrating because they lacked one unifying cause to tackle.
Mankato Fire Cmdr. Jeff Bengtson said activities related to people dealing with the recent snow and cold factored into a few of the fires. But he said it was not the dominate factor.
Instead, the fires were overwhelmingly caused by a wide range of simple, avoidable human errors, ranging from discarded cigarettes to faulty power cords to boxes left on stovetops.
"People don't realize they are doing silly or dumb things (that lead to fires) until after the fact," said North Mankato Fire Chief Tim Pohlman. "We're just asking people to stop and think about what they are doing."
The chiefs also assured the public that arson has not been determined to be a factor in the recent rash of fires, which is more fire than the chiefs have seen in many years.
They said the preventive approach is people simply taking the extra time to double check safety risk and focus on basic winter fire safety, such as keeping heating devices more than 3 feet from flammable objects.
They also cautioned that the leading cause of fires, year in and year out, are three main factors: cooking, heating and open flames, which includes lit candles.
"We really rely on the public to protect themselves. We don't have firefighters in everyone's home. People need to take responsibility for their safety. The best we can do is raise awareness," Bengtson said.
———
©2014 The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.)
Visit The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.) at www.mankatofreepress.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
