Officials ID man pulled from fatal house fire by son

TOWN OF HICKORY GROVE, Wis. — An 85-year-old man is dead following a fire at his home in Grant County Sunday, according  to the Grant County Sheriff’s Department.

The fire happened at 11:30 p.m. at the victim’s home in the 3800 block of Homer Road in the Town of Hickory Grove, which is about 15 miles southeast of Boscobel.

According to the sheriff’s office, Arnold Swenson was removed from the home by one of his sons. Swenson later died at the Gunderson Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics.

The son was injured in the fire, officials said. He was taken to a burn unit at a Madison hospital, but is expected to be OK.

Fire crews were called back to the house around 4 a.m. when the fire reignited in the basement, officials said. The house is a complete loss.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but investigators believe it started in the center of the home where the stove is located.

“It’s a very unfortunate and tragic accident,” Grant Count Sheriff Nate Dreckman said. “The biggest thing that I can get out is hopefully the message to people to make sure you’re checking wood burners, furnaces. Make sure they are in working order because this is the time of year that we unfortunately have these tragedies all over the county.”

Dreckman said this is the first time in many years that a person in the county has died in a fire.