A potentially dangerous fire situation was averted Monday afternoon in the town of Clay Banks.  The Southern Door Fire Department was alerted by someone walking by around 4:20 p.m. of unsupervised fires burning in an open lot on Lower LaSalle Road.  Fire Chief Rich Olson says when crews arrived, there were three separate small fires that were started with charcoal, wood pellets, and pieces of wood inside the half-barrels.  Olson suspects the fires were set to thaw out the ground in order to perform a percolation test.  He says the fire was dangerous and could have easily spread with the nearby brush around it.  The party responsible for lighting the fire did not have a burning permit and had left the scene. 

Olson adds that the Door County Sheriff's Department is investigating and trying to track down the person who started the illegal fire and violated the burning permit ordinance.