Sheriff IDs victim in Brainerd grass fire, says two others died in recent fires

In the span of 10 days this spring, three people died in fire-related incidents in Crow Wing County.

The Sheriff’s Office identified the victims this week to the Minnesota Star Tribune and said the cause of one deadly fire remains under investigation.

“I don’t recall ever hearing of people being burnt hardly at all through my [20-year] career. And then we have a couple of them within a very short period of time,” Lt. Craig Katzenberger said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Fire was listed as the cause of death in two of the incidents while one victim first suffered a medical issue.

Pennie Edberg, 65, died in a grass fire May 4 at her Brainerd home on Wetherbee Road. Katzenberger said Edberg was attempting a controlled burn and “the fire got going quicker than what she realized it was going to be, and she got caught up in it.”

She was on a lawn tractor and had limited mobility.

Her obituary says she is survived by two grandchildren and two sons, who didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Services for Edberg were May 9.

That’s the same day a man died in a structure fire 30 miles north on Minnie Lake Drive in Emily, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Authorities responded to a fire and explosion that engulfed a school bus converted into a home where Daniel Michael Buescher, 72, had been living for years, Katzenberger said.

“He was actually on line with our dispatcher reporting it, and then the line basically goes blank. He was overcome by the fire at that point,” Katzenberger said.

An online fundraiser for Buescher’s son and granddaughter said he was an electrician for over 30 years and lived in Richfield most of his life until he moved north.

“He held a deep appreciation for classic rock, the outdoors, and a steak dinner,” his family said in the fundraiser.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation and memorial service will come later.

Katzenberger said the string of deadly fires began April 30 when a Brainerd man suffered a heart attack while burning brush on Clover Hill Road in Jenkins, Minn.

“He was overcome by a medical issue, and then happened to fall in the area where the fire was,” Katzenberger said.

Conservation officers with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources were out looking for the source of smoke when they found the body of William K. Kleinschmidt, 69.

“Around the same time, the victim’s son was looking for him, too,” Katzenberger said.

Along with his son, Kleinschmidt is survived by his wife, daughter, two granddaughters and two sisters.

His obituary says he was born and raised in Brainerd and worked nearly 30 years for Potlatch lumber company and later as a sheet metal worker.

“Though he had a long career in the trades, Bill was a farmer at heart. He loved working in his garden and was known for the abundance it produced — much of which he generously shared with family, friends, and neighbors," his obituary states.

Services for Kleinschmidt will be June 13 in Brainerd.