– OCP file photo
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
HESPERIA — Firefighters battled two fires — one of which was a garage fire and the other was a rubbish pile fire that got out of control and damaged a shed — Sunday afternoon, May 4.
The garage fire at 145 S. State St. was reported at 5:17 p.m., and the rubbish pile fire at 4812 E. Loop Rd. in Newfield Township was reported about 45 minutes later while firefighters were still working on the garage fire.
“It was an attached garage,” said Hesperia Fire Chief Bob Eichenberg, and firefighters stopped the fire from extending into the house. “There was heavy damage to the garage and a lot of the contents in it.” However, it was not destroyed, he said. The cause of that fire is believed to be electrical in origin.
Assisting Hesperia Area Fire Department were Newaygo County’s Fremont and White Cloud fire departments and Oceana County’s Ferry Township Department. Oceana County’s Grant Township Fire Department was on scene with its rehab trailer. Life EMS was on medical standby, and the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office provided traffic control.
The second fire was a rubbish fire that got out of control and began encroaching on structures on the property. “I was tied up at the State Street one, but from what I was relayed to from our personnel on scene there that it was as a result of someone burning something on the property, and it got away from them. There was a makeshift shed that was damaged, but no permanent structures were damaged. Due to the amount of rubbish and debris on the property, we were called back to that this morning (Monday) to put out a couple spots that had rekindled.”
Assisting at the Loop Road fire were Oceana County’s Ferry Township, Walkerville and Shelby-Benona departments and Newaygo County’s White Cloud Fire Department. Life EMS and the sheriff’s department also responded to the scene. Grant Township’s rehab trailer also responded.
No one was injured in either fire.
No open burning is currently allowed in Oceana County due to the dry and windy conditions. However — “It’s never legal to burn garbage — only natural materials,” said Chief Eichenberg. “That seems to be a lot of our call volume for the burning complaints is people burning garbage and things they shouldn’t be burning.” A citation was issued by the DNR for an illegal fire at the Loop Road scene.
When there is a burning ban, it means you cannot burn leaves, brush, etc., but campfires are allowed — as long as the fire is in an appropriate fire ring or fire pit.
________________________
Please Support Local News
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
Payment can be made monthly via credit card, bank account, PayPal or Venmo through recurring email invoicing. These payments can be set up for autopay each month.
To sign up, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources. For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
Alternative methods:
- We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2025, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
