House severely damaged by dune grass fire

Contributed photo

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — Multiple emergency agencies responded to what began as a dune grass fire that turned into a house fire Monday afternoon just north of the Mason-Oceana county line.

Riverton Fire Department was initially called to Montgomery Drive south of the Bass Lake outlet near Lake Michigan at 12:50 p.m. for a reported dune grass fire. Riverton Fire Chief Joe Cooper was first on the scene and quickly realized the fire was out of control with southerly winds gusting at over 28 mph.

Cooper said the fire was started by an improperly extinguished fire in a fire pit.

“The home occupant said he had a fire in an above-ground fire pit last night and had put it out with water before he went to bed,” Cooper said. “Apparently the fire still contained hot embers which spread when the winds picked up this morning.”

fire quickly spread south on the beach bypassing one house and then hitting the next one.

“The fire reached the house’s deck,” Cooper said. “Before firefighters could get to it, it had spread inside the house. It was a wide-open floor plan with cathedral ceilings. Plus, it was a tight fit to get fire trucks down the driveway. They eventually managed to extinguish the fire but it caused a lot of damage.”

Cooper said the dune grass fire spread further south of the house that caught fire, bypassing other houses before it was under control.

“It was unfortunate that the one house caught fire, but we were lucky that more houses didn’t catch on fire.”

Responding to the scene were Riverton Fire Department, Pentwater Fire Department, Pere Marquette Township Fire Department, Hamlin Township Fire Department, Ludington Fire Department, Hart Fire Department, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Forest Service, Mason County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan State Police, Oceana County Emergency Management, and Life EMS. Also responding was Fountain Area Fire Department Auxiliary.

Cooper said the sheriff’s office also utilized its infrared drone to search for hot spots and to document the scene.

  The occupant of the house where the fire began was issued a citation by the DNR.

Firefighters were on scene for about three hours.

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