Up in flames

At approximately 7 p.m. on December 28, 2021, the Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department was called to 308 N. State Street in Saratoga for a trailer fire at Dan's Trucking. 

The call was placed by Officer John Moore, who was on shift with the Saratoga Police Department the night of the fire. According to Moore, he had just finished conducting a routine check of the Saratoga Lake Campground and was on his way into town when he saw smoke rising from the east side of Saratoga.

The trailer, a 5th wheel camper, was gutted by the blaze. While nobody was in the camper at the time, the Saratoga Sun was informed somebody had been living in the trailer. Though the occupant was not harmed, the fire destroyed their belongings.

Employees of Dan's Trucking acted quickly once notified of the fire to move the trailer away from other at-risk structures and to allow the Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department to fight the fire. Within minutes of arriving, and with snowfall beginning, the fire department had the blaze all but extinguished.

According to Captain Nick Cary, a total of 13 fire department members responded to the fire. Cary said access to two fire hydrants near the property helped in the quick extinguishing of the fire, with the fire trucks returning to the station around 9:30 p.m.

"It all went pretty smooth and fast," said Cary.

Cary stated help from employees of Dan's Trucking also helped things go smooth in battling the camper fire. The captain also highlighted Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department member Marcos Zaragoza.

"We had one of our firefighters step up and take command of the incident and I would like to say he did a great job," Cary said. "He ran incident command for the whole thing."

The cause of the fire, according to Cary, had been traced to an overheated wood stove located within the camper. No injuries or fatalities were reported in relation to the fire.