Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
FIRE MARSHALLS and area firemen continue to search for clues after a tragic fire claimed the life of Lisa Henning Waldros early Saturday morning and destroyed the Bear Trap Inn.
By RALPH ANSAMI
SAXON, Wis. - A body was recovered Monday morning from the ashes of the fire that destroyed the Bear Trap Inn in Saxon over the weekend.
Lisa Henning Waldros, of Kimball, Wis., a bartender at the tavern-restaurant, had not been seen since the fire was reported around 3:20 a.m. Saturday.
Her husband, Dean Waldros, told the Daily Globe Monday around 9:30 a.m. he had been notified by Iron County Coroner Diane Simonich that a body, presumably that of his wife, was found in the bathroom area of the single-story building.
"That would be the (final) place she would clean," Dean Waldros said.
His wife worked as a bartender for the late shift Friday night and she usually cleaned after closing.
The bathrooms were to the rear of the building, on the east side.
There was no immediate determination Monday as to what might have caused the fire.
The business was operated by T.C. Henning, of Saxon, the sister of Lisa Waldros.
Family members at first held out hopes that she might have escaped the fire, but when she wasn't heard from over the weekend, they realized she was likely in the building.
When the fire was called in by Brad Bigboy, of Odanah, the building was fully engulfed. A vehicle belonging to Lisa Waldros was parked in front of the tavern.
Representatives of the state fire marshal's office arrived on Saturday and they were assisted by local firefighters in sifting through the black rubble of the building, piece by piece.
Iron County Sheriff Tony Furyk expressed confidence in the fire marshal's investigation on Sunday evening. "They are doing a thorough job," he said.
Furyk said around noon Monday, during a break in court proceedings at the courthouse in Hurley, the fire marshal's investigation would continue until the entire contents of the building had been searched, even after the body was found.
He said there was still a lot of work to be done at the scene.
The investigation was complicated by the fact that the tavern collapsed into a full basement.
Numerous family and community members spent two days at the scene as the search continued.
The community was shaken by the fire. Many of the firefighters at the scene knew the victim personally and digging through the rubble was tough on them, as well as devastating for the family, Saxon Fire Chief Stacy Ofstad said.
