Winnebago, Wis. (WFRV) – A marsh fire in Winnebago county is under investigation for possible arson. The fire was located on County Road MM, west of Winchester and east of Lake Poygan.

The Fire Chief for the Town of Winchester Fire Departent, Glenn Mathison said, “It’s under investigation at this time… It’s possibly a suspicious fire.”

He continued and said, “We’ve been out to this area many times over the last 10, 12, 15 years now and the origins of the fires keep starting pretty close to always in the same spot. They always come out and do it during the day when it’s during the week when there are less firemen around and they always pick a high wind day where they’re going to do the most damage with the fire getting driven across the marsh.”

Chief Mathison said that crews were called out around 1:30 pm to battle the blaze that has consumed about 100 acres of land.

“We’ve got 12 fire departments here and the Wisconsin DNR is also on location now. The fire is pretty much contained except for the south flank of the fire; it’s slowly burning into the wind heading into the south. There’s probably another mile of cattails that it could burn possibly towards the south, and right now, we’re just protecting the structures,” said Mathison. “And now that it’s become dark out, now we’ve pulled the crews out of the fields out of the marsh so we don’t have to worry about anybody getting hurt… But we’re continuing to stand by in case the wind picks up or changes direction and starts to push it towards another house.”‘

There were no injuries to fire personnel or civilians as a result of todays incident.

“In all the fires we’ve had out here no structures have been burned except for a couple of hunting blinds that have been out in the middle of the marsh,” said Mathison.

Finally Mathison said, “The sheriff’s department is investigating or continuing to investigate the cause and the origin and we’re working on it. It seems to be the same person doing it all the time so we’re on the lookout for them all the time.”