WINONA, Minn. — Firefighters were called to a burning tree in a backyard on the Near West Side. The homeowner already was battling the blaze with a garden hose. The fire crew added 100 gallons from a tanker truck to be sure jt was out. At one point, flames reached almost to overhead power lines. The tree, in the 200 block of Wilson Street, had been hollowed out and cut down to six feet. The homeowner told firefighters he was wakened about 4 a.m. and found the tree ablaze. He surmised that an old ball of string at the top of the hollowed-out stump caught an ember from the house chimney.
