Multiple departments respond to Mukwa blaze

By John Faucher and Robert Cloud

Multiple fire departments responded to GLF Green For Life Environmental Services, formerly Graichen Sanitation, located in the town of Mukwa approximately 4 miles west of New London on State Highway 54.

Fire departments were dispatched to E8257 State 54 shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30.

When they arrived, firefighters found a 40-foot-by-60-foot maintenance shop engulfed in flames.

Two garbage trucks inside the structure were also on fire.

The structure and the trucks were destroyed.

New London firefighters remained at the scene until 8 p.m.

No injuries were reported. The shop was unoccupied at the time of the fire.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined at this time.

At 5:15 p.m., eye witnesses told the Press Star flames from the fire in a building behind the new office complex could be seen as high as 40 feet in the air from State 54.

Minutes later Waupaca County Sheriff’s deputies blocked traffic on a one mile stretch of State 54 from Northport Convenience Center to the Pine Tree Supper Club.

Flames and a huge plume of smoke could be seen in the night sky from Weyauwega Road and from Larry Road just west of the scene.

A steady flow of detour traffic and onlookers made the scene even more congested.

New London Fire Department’s aerial ladder truck could be seen from one-half mile away jetting water to the rooftop of the blazing structure.

Multiple fire departments and Gold Cross Ambulance were on scene.