Fire calls for many rural fire departments can be 'few and far between'. Or, they can 'come in bunches.'

For the Lawrence Volunteer Fire Dept. this winter has been interesting. They had been making plans for a "Practice Burn" on a structure in Lawrence when they got surprised . . . in fact two surprises, this past week.

Last week Tuesday, they were called to the Cliff Mazour home northeast of Lawrence, just into Clay County. Mr. Mazour had just finished feeding cattle and he returned the tractor to the building, just as he had done many time before. He traveled over to his chicken barn just a short distance away. By the time he got there, his wife, Brooke, called him to tell him the Quonset was on fire and dense black smoke was coming from it. Mrs. Mazour was just going to wake up their children in time for school.

The fire department quickly knocked down the fire, but not before two tractors, a feed wagon, a baler, the building and many small tools were destroyed.

The exact cause is not certain, but it seemed that the most likely cause came from the block heater on the loader tractor he was using to feed the cattle.

A fire very early Tuesday morning left the front of the home of Soni Fritzpatrick in Lawrence looking like it went through a war. No one was injured in the fire but a number of pets did not survive. The view above is from a late morning picture.

The building and machinery are total losses and Mr. Mazour is waiting on the insurance adjustors to do their job.

Monday night (in fact early Tuesday morning – about 3:30 a.m.) many residents of Lawrence were woke with the fire whistle causing the sudden alarm.

The volunteer firemen made the quick trip to the Soni Fitzpatrick home just two blocks east of Main Street of Lawrence. Fire and smoke was coming from the front of the home under the porch. It didn't take long for them to knock down the flame which allowed them to enter the home and completely extinguish the fire.

Damage was extensive to the west side of the home. No one was injured but several pets did not survive. It is thought that the fire was caused by extension cords.