I was on my way to Luther High School to assist with a small project when I saw a large plume of smoke rising up into the sky about a block away from the school. I quickly drove to the source to see what was going on with my phone ready to dial 911. When I turned the corner I saw that an Onalaska police car and fire truck were already on the scene.

Officer Lund from the Onalaska Police Department was securing the perimeter and a fire crew was just starting to setup when I arrived around 11:50am. While I was recording footage with my smartphone, an un-identified citizen told me about his effort, along with Officer Lund, to pound on all the apartment doors and get people out of the building safely. You can see the video on the CouleeConservatives.com YouTube channel here. You can also click here for the report by WKBT who showed up a few minutes after me.

There are heroes walking among us every day in this community. Some of them wear badges and fire fighting gear - but not all of them. Some of them are just good people who happen to be driving by a plume of smoke so they stop to help in any way they can. I encourage you to watch this YouTube video and pay attention to the man describing what happened. He is an every day hero and I just wish I would have gotten his name so he could be honored for his actions. I will do some follow up calls about this to find out more details and I'll share them with you here as I learn more. If you know anything additional then please leave your comments below so we can all learn together.

One of my goals for CouleeConservatives.com in 2017 is to highlight the traditional American values that are all too often ignored. Courage and heroism are part of those values so here's to you Officer Lund, the Onalaska fire department, and the un-identified citizen who stepped up when needed. God bless you for your courage and willingness to assist others in a time of need. We are truly blessed to live in a community full of so many good and decent people. And God's blessings to the victims of the fire. I understand they are being well cared for but we're still praying for them to have the strength to overcome this tragedy. And we thank God that no one was hurt.