Pittsville Fie Chief Sees Efforts Turned into Wisconsin Law

Monday, April 8th, 2024 -- 12:01 PM

(Karen Madden, USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin) Almost two decades ago, Fire Chief Jerry Minor's granddaughter brought him a Weekly Reader from school and showed him an article her second-grade class had read about novelty lighters, according to Karen Madden with USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin).

"Grandpa, you ought to make a law," Kaitlyn Potts said. Minor read the article, which was about children getting hurt while playing with toy-like lighters. The article came out in the fall of 2008.

In the spring of that year, Potts' second-grade class had lost a classmate in a fire that was suspected to be started by a lighter. Minor agreed with his granddaughter.

He also decided the children in his granddaughter's second-grade class at Pittsville Elementary School, which had discussed the article Potts brought home, should help him.

Minor said he was familiar with the lawmaking process and believed it would be a fairly simple thing to get a law made in Wisconsin that would help protect children.

He didn't know it would take almost 16 years filled with expectations and disappointments to get it done. It also took a lot of help from many people, including one person who many would consider an unlikely source of assistance. On Friday, Minor saw his 16 years of work pay off when Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed the counterfeit and nuisance lighter bill into law.

"Unsafe lighters endanger our kids, families and communities, often creating dangerous and largely preventable situations for our fire departments, EMS providers and other first responders," Evers said before signing the bill into law.

"This bipartisan legislation will help keep unsafe lighters off the shelves to help keep our kids safe across Wisconsin while improving and promoting fire safety, reducing fire play and helping prevent fires from starting in the first place."

Evers told the Pittsville Elementary and High School students gathered to watch the signing that it doesn't normally take 16 years to make a law, but he was grateful to Minor for sticking with it.

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