MADISON TWP. – It was a busy weekend for the Madison Township Fire Department, which assisted with a barn fire near Morenci on Thursday, Aug. 15, and led firefighting efforts on a large fire involving several junk cars at an auto parts store in Madison Township the same day.
At least 10 fire departments — seven from Lenawee County and three from northwest Ohio — battled a barn fire on Dodge Highway in Seneca Township Thursday afternoon. Officials said the barn was destroyed in the fire.
Fire departments from Adrian, Cambridge Township, Clayton, Fairfield Township, Hudson and Madison Township assisted the Morenci Fire Department in its efforts to contain the barn fire, which remains under investigation.
That same afternoon, Madison Township firefighters took control of battling a fire involving seven to nine vehicles near a wooded area behind Dusseau Auto Parts, 2423 Treat Highway.
Madison Township Fire Chief Nic Wilson said firefighters were called to the car fire at 1:05 p.m. During the fire, Treat Highway was closed to traffic between U.S. 223 and Beecher Street near the Adrian city limits.
Upon entering the scene, they found several cars that were ready for hauling and metal crushing were engulfed in flames. Wilson said the department used a Dusseau’s front-end loader to haul away the cars that were not involved in the fire.
Overall, there was no impact on residents in the area, Wilson said. Thanks to a joint effort, emergency crews were able to quickly bring the fire under control, taking just over an hour to contain it.
Seven to nine cars that were originally intended for the scrapyard were affected. The fire department of the city of Adrian and fire departments from the townships of Adrian, Palmyra and Raisin provided assistance.
Steve Dusseau, the auto parts store’s president, said the cars in the yard were ready to be scrapped and the metal recovered. Neither he nor the firefighters who came to help know what set the vehicles on fire.
“One caught fire and the fire spread to the others nearby,” Dusseau told The Daily Telegram. “(The fire department) got there pretty quickly. It could have been a spark or something that started it all.”
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Not much remains from Thursday’s fire, Dusseau said. Large, black clouds of smoke seen throughout Madison Township and in Adrian most likely came from the burning tires, plastic parts and upholstery of the vehicles, he said. There was no financial loss to the company because the junk cars were ready for crushing and scrapping.
Dusseau Auto Parts was able to remain open during the fire.
“It looked pretty spectacular, but there wasn’t really much to it,” he said. “… When these firefighters are doing their job, the best thing to do is get out of their way and let them do their job.”
Wilson said the fire at the auto parts store remains under investigation.
— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LenaweeHeineman.
