Thursday's Internet Edition, August 28, 2008.

Some 17 firefighters from Walton, Gandeeville-Harmony and other departments and three state foresters were in the class at the Walton fire station Saturday when they were dispatched shortly after 10 a.m. to a fire at 1701 Long Ridge Rd.

“Even though the class wasn’t supposed to have any hands-on training, we got some,” Walton Volunteer Fire Dept. Chief Jim Weekley said.

Weekley said the fire near the Steve and Marion Wazelle residence appeared to have started in a hollow tree beside the road.

“The tree had been burning a long time,” according to Weekley, who said there had been some lightning in the area the previous evening.

“We’re not certain what caused the fire,” Weekley said.

The fire involved a small area and was extinguished in about 15 minutes.

A much larger fire in the Gandeeville area Thursday afternoon took about four hours to suppress, Gandeeville-Harmony VFD Chief Mike Randolph said.

That fire, near the Carl Cyrus residence at 826 Hinzman Hill Rd., was reported at 1:22 p.m. Fire departments from Gandeeville, Walton, Spencer and Clover responded, with over 20 firefighters in all.

Randolph said the fire was finally under control at 5:30 p.m., after burning an estimated 10 acres.

He said the fire started in a hollow behind the house started when flames started to burn and some debris escaped. He said state forestry officials were investigating.

Firefighters from Newton and Walton had another brush fire the same day. The second fire was reported at about the same time the other was finally put out.

Firefighters went to the Buddy Rapp residence at 1986 Big Pigeon Rd. and spent almost two hours extinguishing the fire that consumed an estimated 2-1/2 acres.

No information was available on what caused the fire.