BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2018 VOL. 56 NO. 10 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
SPORTS YEAR IN REVIEW: Collection of top stories from 2017 P13
Grantsburg fire destroys home
Christmas day ice rescue JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
SIREN––Training and quick action saved two Grantsburg men after their vehicle went through thin ice on Wood Lake Christmas Day. Harley Meyer and Keith Choronzy were rescued from Meyer’s SUV shortly after 5 p.m. Matt Berg and his son, Noah, were among the people who rescued the two men. Berg and his family were celebrating the holiday when they received a call from a neighbor. At roughly the same time, his son noticed something out on Big Wood Lake. It turned out to be a Chevrolet Suburban and there were two people inside. “We got the call and almost simultaneously my son, Noah, noticed there was a car partially submerged in the lake,” Berg, a biology teacher at Grantsburg High School said. “I just started grabbing gear and headed out there.” Berg said he wasn’t sure when he left the house if there were people inside the vehicle or not. He took two life-jackets and about 30 feet of rope. “I don’t know if Colleen and I even spoke or if it was just understood what needed to be done,” Berg said of his sister-in-law. “She was out there getting everyone organized so that there wouldn’t be too much weight on the ice.” Berg said it’s all a bit of a blur, but around 5:15 p.m. he went on the ice. He and Noah took a rescue diving course which had a large
JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
SUBMITTED
Matt Berg’s son snapped this photograph shortly after seeing the vehicle partially submerged in Big Wood Lake.
focus on ice rescues, so he had a decent understanding of what he was supposed to do. “We saw the first guy (Keith Choronzy) and threw him the life-jacket with the rope attached,” Berg recalled. “He got one arm through the arm hole and we began pulling him in.” Once they got Choronzy out, he was taken into a neighbor’s home and warmed up. Berg’s wife had called 911 right away and the dispatcher was already aware of the situation. Berg said the second man, later identified as Harley Meyer, was larger and it took more strength and time, but they rescued him the exact same way. “I estimated it was about three minutes from when we got on the ice to when we had both men out,” Berg said. “Everything was happening and the time felt fast and slow all at once. It was a pretty intense thing.” Berg explained they knew not to
put themselves at risk while saving the other men. He said there were neighbors and ice fisherman helping, he said there was probably eight to ten people all helping out on the ice. “When we got the second man out, he was very hypothermic and confused,” Berg said of Meyer after being pulled from the vehicle. “He kept forgetting where he was at and believed the first man was still in there. So we were all worried that he might try and jump back in.” Soon after that two North Memorial ambulances arrived on the scene and took over. Berg said the rescue was a team effort and that everyone involved worked well together. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before and hopefully never will again,” Berg said. “I was a lifeguard and you train for situations like this, but hope you never have to handle one in real life.”
Top 10 stories of 2017 JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
2017 is gone, never to return. 2018 is here for another 360-some days. Now is the time when the Sentinel’s editorial staff go over all the stories published during the last year (even if some of us only arrived in late October) and
pull the top 10 stories. These stories were chosen because of the impact and impression they left on Burnett County. Without further ado, here are our top news stories of 2017. Along with the stories are some of the best pictures that landed on our pages in 2017.
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GRANTSBURG–– Grantsburg firefighters arrived at Crosstown Road last Friday morning as flames were engulfing the house that Brent Lapierre had just escaped. The house was burned to the ground where he lived with his wife Jessica and five children by Saturday. Grantsburg Fire Chief Cory Barnette, said his department was dispatched at 6:53 a.m. and arrived on the scene with the house fully engulfed in flames. “This was an old construction house and was near impossible to put out,” Barnette said. “We had the fire extinguished later that day.” Barnette explained the fire was extinguished, but still smoldering that night when he spoke with the home owners. At that point, they agreed to let it smolder. “It was a safety concern sending people in there because of the possibility of collapsing walls or the chimney collapsing with people inside,” Barnette said. Fire Departments from Siren, Webster and Frederic were also dispatched to the fire. They did have slight complications with water lines freezing. “We would get back to the station to fill up and everything would need to be thawed before we could fill the trucks back up,” Barnette said. Jessica Lapierre’s sister Nicole Wilson-Ruez said on Facebook that she woke up early Friday morning to a phone call saying her sisters house had burned to the ground and that the family had lost everything. There is a donation drive currently underway at the Country Store in Grantsburg where people can donate money or clothes. Friends of the family set up a GoFundMe page after the fire and have raised over $2,500 for the Lapierre family. “On the morning of December 29th, the home of Jessica and Brent Lapierre caught fire and burned, everything they had was lost. They have five children ranging in age from 2 to 14. We are setting up this fund to help them to replace some of what they lost that can be replaced and get into a new home, any help you can give would be greatly appreciated,” is the caption on the page at www.gofundme.com/family-losses-there-hometo-fire. Jessica said on Facebook, “We appreciate all the help and support and I know I have comments and messages I haven’t gotten to I am just very overwhelmed right now. Thank you everyone!”
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