Coming up on Saturday, Jan. 10, crews with the Escalon Fire Department will be out and about in the community, for the annual Christmas tree pick up.

Residents within city limits who have yet to dispose of their Christmas tree are asked to place it curbside by 7 a.m. Saturday. Fire officials also request that all tree stands, ornaments and tinsel are removed prior to placing the tree curbside.

The department members will pick up the trees for free; they are taken to the local Lionudakis Firewood to be chipped up.

Meanwhile, the department responded to a couple of unusual calls to start the week, with both occurring on Monday, Jan. 5.

At 7:30 a.m., the department was dispatched to a reported structure fire, coming in as having ‘smoke and flames’ showing, in the 2000 block of Matthew Lane. Engine 1-1 was dispatched and Engine 1-2 also responded, with a call for mutual aid put out for Ripon Fire Department. But the first crews arriving on the scene found nothing showing; no smoke, no fire, no hazard. After a check at the location, the call was canceled.

Less than an hour later, at 8:21 a.m., the department had a walk-in request for assistance with water removal in the 1000 block of Main Street. The request was from Hogan Manufacturing, with the office location having been damaged over the weekend. Fire officials said the heavy rain that fell caused a back up of water on the roof of the building, with the pooled water then leaking through, causing damage to the drop ceiling, insulation, and inside an office at the Main Street site. Maintenance employees of the business were on scene and, with firefighters using a vacuum backpack to suction out the water, a restoration company was also called in to conduct a more thorough clean up.