Special to the Lake Okeechobee News/OCFR
What a busy night for the firefighters on B-shift. Station 2, Station 1 and Chief 2 respond to a RV fire in a trailer park along U.S. 441 Southeast in the early hours.

OKEECHOBEE — Okeechobee County Fire Rescue was kept busy over the Veterans Day weekend beginning with a structure fire on Friday, Nov. 8, at approximately 10 p.m. in the 7700 block of Northwest 81st Court. The home was fully involved and a vehicle in the yard was being threatened nwhen firefighters arrived on the scene. They were met on the scene by Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who advised all occupants were out of the home at that time. After they extinguished the fire, firefighters were able to salvage a few belongings for the family. Red Cross arrived to assist the family, and when the state fire marshal arrived, the crew went through the scene with him as he conducted his investigation. Firefighters Chad Jackson, Matthew Vinson, Ricky Hansford, Karl Holtcamp, Michael McLeod, Martin Rodriguez and Clint Chambers worked the fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

At approximately 4 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9, firefighters Jeremy McWhorter, Gary Stokes, Keith Bourgault, Matthew Hopkins, Charles Giles, Ricky Hansford, Carl Holtcamp, Cole Owens and Steven Kayda responded to a call regarding a fire in a motor home in the 6000 block of U.S. 441 Southeast. When they arrived, they found the fire coming from the engine compartment of the motor home. When they attempted to contact the owner of the vehicle, she reportedly told them she could not come out there because she had a small child at home and the motor home had been vacant for a year and was used for storage. After the fire was extinguished, the scene was turned over to the state fire marshal. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Special to the Lake Okeechobee News/OCFR
This fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal.

At approximately 9 a.m. on the same day, firefighters Steven Kayda, William Corona, A.J. Pegler, Robert Walters and Jarrod Akins were dispatched to a school in the 800 block of Southwest 28th Street in response to a call regarding an alarm company call. Upon arrival, they found the roof was leaking water into a detector in the mechanical room. They explained the situation to the key holder, and he said he would wait for the alarm company to arrive and fix the detector.

A palm frond was the cause of the call on Nov. 10 at about midnight when firefighters Jarrod Akins, Robert Walters, A.J. Pegler, Steven Kayda, William Corona, Robert Banfield and Josh Borgstrom were called out to the 7100 block of Northeast Second Street. When they arrived, they found a single palm branch touching the power line running across the back yard of a residence. Once FP&L arrived, crews were able to clear the scene.