WILSON, Minn. – Deputies were called to a fire in a hay shed near Wilson but not to put out the flames — firefighters were already on site — but to get the shed owner out of firefighters’ way. The shed owner, Dennis Wayne Girtler, 77, kept trying desperately to pull his burning and smoldering crop, one bale at a time, out of the shed.. Even after the Wilson fire crew arrived , he repeatedly insisted on going back into the structure. His wife finally calmed him down to let firefighters do what they could. In the end, the crop, roughly 100 bales, was lost. For Girtler, however, the loss didn’t stop tyhre. He was ticketed for obstructing firefighters. This was about 1:45 p.m. in the 24000 block of Stone Point Road.
Soaked and smoldering. At least 100 bales of ruined hay flank both sides of Stone Point Road after a shed fire at the Gintler place off U.S. Highway 43. Image: Steve Lunde.