By Christopher Johnson
According to Clare’s Fire Chief, Sam Eberhart, he has never seen a busier time for the city’s fire department than the week just gone.
From 8 o’clock Friday morning until 6 o’clock Monday night, there were between 80 to 90 calls across the county. That doesn’t include the walk-in emergencies that were also happening at the station. People who just needed immediate help and couldn’t report through the proper channels. So, the reality for Clare is there were very easily over a hundred emergency responses.
“The toughest thing we ran into, besides how hard it was just to get there because of the conditions, was the sheer devastation,” Sam said. “Trees were down. Wires were down. In those conditions, we couldn’t reach places easily. We were clawing our way in, cutting our way in. And on top of that, we had a couple of house fires in Farwell and Lake Station. Those obviously needed immediate help, so everyone was stretched thin.”
He elaborates on one of the more serious situations, when icy, unplowed roads prevented an ambulance from reaching a woman experiencing a medical emergency. The residence was located along Winding Wood Drive, which had become nearly impassable due to ice.
Emergency responders attempted to access the home but became stuck and were ultimately forced to pull back. With traditional access impossible, a request was made for assistance from crews equipped with four-wheel-drive vehicles. Despite the hazardous conditions, responders were able to carefully work their way in using a pickup truck, retrieve the woman from the home, and transport her to a safer location where an ambulance could complete the trip to the hospital.
“It made everything that much harder,” reflects Sam. “Most people were able to stay home, but we had to go out in it. Every call, you’re constantly looking over your shoulder and above your head, asking yourself what the danger is. Whether a tree might come down on you.”
Meanwhile in town, the streets ran red with siren light, as multiple fire engines responded to a plethora of fire hazards. The crescendo of emergency horns was a constant drone and rang out steadily across the weekend. One of the most notable of the calls was a fire that had broken out downtown at Cops & Doughnuts on Friday night.
After radio chatter revealed a fire had broken out in the building, multiple engines arrived in a robust effort to neutralize the source.
These sorts of sites are always a priority for manpower, as the old buildings that line Clare’s downtown area are vulnerable to wildfire conditions, as flames can spread across multiple storefronts quickly and contagiously. The department stresses that it’s always better to be overprepared than under.
In buildings like Cops’ Donuts, fire risk is shaped as much by roof design as by what happens inside the structure. Many downtown commercial buildings share connected rooflines, with parapet walls that rise and fall between adjoining businesses. Those variations can create concealed pathways where fire can travel unnoticed above occupied spaces.
In this case, the concern was not fire spreading through interior walls, but the possibility of it moving across the roof itself. The buildings are covered with older rubber roofing materials, which can be highly flammable once ignited.
A ladder crew was deployed to access and inspect the roofline, checking parapet transitions and roofing materials for hidden extension or heat buildup. This precautionary approach allowed crews to assess the worst-case scenario — fire advancing from one business to the next — before it could take hold. Efforts than moved inward, where the bakery’s staff had been working before the interruption.
Staff and firefighters discovered the source was because of a malfunction with a bathroom fan, which had combusted. This then ignited a premature blaze that was quickly located and extinguished. The damage was minimal, according to responders.
“We had generator power that we were running,” explains Greg Rynearson, President of Cops & Doughnuts. The business had resorted to backup power as the outbreak of power outages began to intensify. “Anytime power starts coming back on, you can get surges. One of those surges hit an exhaust fan in the one bathroom, and between that and some lint buildup, it likely caused the fire.”
In terms of the damage, it was the smoke that prompted the most concern. The flames themselves were limited to the plastic that had dripped down from the point of origin. Which was eliminated with a single burst from a fire extinguisher.
“At first, we didn’t realize where it was coming from,” Greg continues. “We thought it might be the walk-in cooler next door. We even heard what sounded like a compressor pop. So, I was searching around there, because I had seen a little bit of smoke. I assumed that was the source, but when we checked, it wasn’t there. When we finally went around and opened other things up, we found it was the plastic shroud around the bathroom’s exhaust fan.”
Further northbound, other threats needed assistance.
The transformer that blew along Beech Street, described as a “fireball” by a bystander, was one of many that required a team effort between firefighters and linemen.
The incident drew immediate concern from MyMichigan Medical Center staff, whose building’s entrance and skywalk were only a stone throw from the site.
According to officials, a Consumers Energy crew was already in the process of repairing a downed line when additional strain from neighboring wires shifted onto the transformer. The added load caused the equipment to overload and fail, escalating what had begun as routine line repair into a more complex emergency response. Firefighters were dispatched to assist, with a fire engine positioned on scene to support the utility crew as repairs continued and the area was secured.
Across the main drag, near the United Methodist Church, a cobweb of wires had descended over the road, creating a voltaic wall that was of immediate threat to any thru traffic. The road was sealed off, with two engines minding the scene until linemen arrived.
As for Clare’s police force, they were just as busy as the fire department.
“A lot of vehicles stuck,” recounts police chief, David Saad. “Sliding off the roadways. Lines down. Assisting the fire department as best we can. Obviously, they were busier than we were, and they did a fantastic job. As for our officers, I appreciate all of them. We got great people on the roads.”
One thing Saad observed amidst the chaos that he found particularly inspiring was the generosity of others helping each other out. People extending warmth and rescue in any and all ways possible as everybody came together to navigate a shared crisis.
Clare Police also extend special credit to Emergency Management Coordinator, Jerry Becker. Who played a key role in coordinating the multi-agency response. Becker served as a constant presence over radio channels, helping ensure fire departments were properly informed, maintaining constant communication with Consumers Energy, and relaying information about warming centers for residents without power or heat. Officials described his coordination with law enforcement and fire agencies as a tremendous asset throughout the storm response.
