News & Events

Update 1/6/26 @ 3:55 p.m. – The Rock County Sheriff’s Office provided the following update on January 6: “The fire investigation into the Lake House Inn remains open and ongoing. However, the investigation does not [emphasis added] indicate the Lake House Inn fire and the residential fire on East Road 5, which occurred the day prior, are related.”

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from Lakeside Fire-Rescue. An extensive history of the structure and businesses located there may be found on the current website of the business. The very old photo on the homepage is from that website.

Lakeside Fire-Rescue and the Rock County Sheriff’s Office were alerted by the Rock County 9-1-1 Center at 8:28 p.m. on Sunday, January 4th, of a 9-1-1 call reporting smoke coming from the apartment above the Lake House Inn at 1612 East Hotel Drive in the Maple Beach subdivision in the Town of Milton. [Many would know the location as the unincorporated community of Newville.] The caller initially reported just smoke, but 9-1-1 began receiving multiple calls from people in the area reporting fire now visible from the back of the restaurant portion of the buildings, and eventually reporting fire through the roof above the kitchen area. Lakeside Fire-Rescue units from Stations 2 (Edgerton) and 3 (Milton) were dispatched.

The first arriving law enforcement officer on scene at approximately 8:37 p.m. confirmed heavy fire from the back of the building. Based on the information being received by the 9-1-1 Center Lakeside Fire-Rescue immediately upgraded the response to a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) “Box Alarm” at 8:38 p.m., which added additional fire and support units from Janesville, Whitewater, Stoughton, Delavan, and Deerfield Fire Departments, along with water tenders from Fort Atkinson, LaGrange, Darien, and the Town of Delavan. The Lake Mills Fire Department was also requested to provide an engine and chief to stand by in case of another incident in the Lakeside region. Numerous additional law enforcement assisted the Rock County Sheriff’s Office with control around the scene.

The Rock County 9-1-1 Center was able to make contact with representatives of the multiple businesses that operate out of the complex confirming no one should be in the building.

First arriving fire units arrived within 12 minutes of the original 9-1-1 call and observed a rapidly moving fire spreading through the kitchen and restaurant portions of the building encroaching on the historic three-story bar and former hotel portions. Multiple fire lines were deployed from the back and front sides of the buildings, but the heavy winds rapidly overpowered the efforts of firefighters to keep the fire contained.

Upon his arrival Lakeside Fire Chief Randall Pickering further upgraded the incident to a 3rd Alarm at 8:47 p.m. which added additional firefighting resources from Cambridge and Cottage Grove, and additional water tenders from Watertown, Jefferson, Evansville, Sharon, East Troy, and Troy Center. Knowing the age of the structure and its open flow on the interior Chief Pickering stated, “we knew it was going to take a significant amount of personnel and water to contain and extinguish the fire.”

Early on in the incident two Lakeside firefighter/paramedics were injured when they came in contact with an exterior air conditioning unit that had become energized, and suffered minor injuries from electrical shock. Both firefighters were cared for immediately by personnel on scene which included a trauma doctor from Mercyhealth who responds on larger incidents for the fire units and was already on scene. Both firefighters were held in one of Lakeside’s ambulances for observation, and were later released to return to firefighting efforts.

The roof and 2nd floor over the kitchen and restaurant collapsed into the 1st floor at 9:22 p.m., and fire continued moving through the building and into the historic 3-story bar and former hotel section. The fire was finally ruled under control at 11:04 p.m., although fire crews continued to fight hot spots until approximately 12:52 a.m. Lakeside Fire-Rescue did leave a fire crew on the scene overnight to monitor in case any hot spots flared up.

The owner of the restaurant told fire personnel that the business was open earlier in the day for the Packers game, and after cleaning up he was the last person to leave the building at approximately 6:00 p.m.

Fire and Sheriff’s Department personnel requested assistance from the Wisconsin State Fire Marshall’s Office who arrived on scene Monday morning. Preliminary investigation suggests the fire originated in the kitchen area of the building. The incident remains under investigation with additional investigation resources being brought in over the next week to continue to narrow down the exact area of origin and cause.

The original structure was built in the mid 1850’s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been added on to several times. In its heyday in the last 25 years of the 19th century it was known as “THE summer resort of early Edgerton” according to a story in the “Edgerton Independent” newspaper from 1877.

Due to its age the structure was not equipped with automatic fire sprinklers.

The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office recently participated in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mobilization for their winter Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over (DSOGPO) initiative. This mobilization took place from December 12th, 2025, to January 1st, 2026. During this time, Walworth County Sheriff’s Office Deputies spent 274 hours of their time dedicated to traffic enforcement efforts. This effort resulted in 240 traffic contacts, 14 arrests for Operating While under the influence (OWI), 128 citations, 131 written warnings, 5 criminal drug arrests, 3 felony arrests, 12 misdemeanor arrests, 4 warrant arrests, 10 ordinance citations, 6 canine requests, and 2 police pursuits. Sadly, despite these efforts, a fatal crash occurred during this period. The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office is committed to enhancing traffic safety through its various partnerships, data sharing, transparency, enforcement, and educational initiatives.

Paul Jhona writes on January 5, “Lights go out tonight, beautiful Cravath Lake Holiday Display from “A Bird’s View.” Thank You City of Whitewater.”

Our thanks to Paul Jhona for sharing a different view of the beautiful light display.

— Our Readers Share: We hope that you might have something that you’d be willing to share.  Anything that’s been created by someone else should, of course, be credited, and you should ask their permission if you’re able. We cannot post copyrighted material without permission. We can’t guarantee that we’ll have space for all submissions, and contributions will be subject to editorial board approval. The one definite exclusion is anything politically oriented. We will assume that you’re willing for us to include your name as the submitter unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous. Send to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com. Thanks for thinking about this!

Steve Watson writes “Christmas at Cravath Lakefront lights and a full Wolf supermoon.”

Editor’s note: The wolf supermoon occurred on January 3. A wolf supermoon is a term that combines the names of two significant lunar events: the wolf Moon, which refers to the first full Moon of January, and a supermoon, which occurs when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit (called the “perigee,”) making it appear larger and brighter than usual. At the perigee the Moon is about 2,20,000 miles away from Earth, compared to at its furthest point – or apogee – around 2,50,000 miles away. The wolf moon is named because wolves are often heard howling more during the cold winter nights.

Our thanks to Steve Watson for these dandy photos.

— Our Readers Share: We hope that you might have something that you’d be willing to share.  Anything that’s been created by someone else should, of course, be credited, and you should ask their permission if you’re able. We cannot post copyrighted material without permission. We can’t guarantee that we’ll have space for all submissions, and contributions will be subject to editorial board approval. The one definite exclusion is anything politically oriented. We will assume that you’re willing for us to include your name as the submitter unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous. Send to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com. Thanks for thinking about this!

Writer Tim Mumm will be sharing some of his new work at the next Wright House Concert on January 23, 2026. Tim will be reading from his play, “Cat’s Cradle.” Joel Mankowski and Jenny Buechner will be presenting with Tim to provide some of the history behind the play, and to talk about Deaf culture and the process of translating the play into American Sign Language. This reading will be given in both spoken English and American Sign Language, with interpreters present to provide support.

The performance begins at 7 pm. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Register on Eventbrite: https://timmumm.eventbrite.com