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The controlled burn was put in place at the old South Hills Country Club, to help the fire department with training and to clear the way for new development.
“The building itself is 16 thousand square feet, it’s gonna burn and smolder for the next couple of days which is normal for training burns like this,” Caledonia Fire Chief Walter Leininger said.
Despite the fire being controlled, people throughout Thursday afternoon and evening got off the highway to see what was going on, and the smell of fire spread through the area.
“Our guys will be out here just about every hour to drive around and look for any brush fires or what not,” Leininger said.
Sue Jardee was at the fire and wanted to see the country club one last time before it burned down.
“We golfed here a lot, I worked as a bev cart, I worked with wonderful people and the family was nice that owned it,” Jardee said. “They were wonderful and just to watch this is pretty sad.”
Despite the size of the fire and the reaction from parts of the community, Chief Leininger says the fire was planned and is working out as expected.