Northeast Wisconsin no stranger to sinkholes

GREEN BAY - Geologists say sinkholes happen as acidic rain erodes the bedrock and the land above it becomes unstable. Even Northeast Wisconsin is no stranger to sinkholes.

"It's not that populated, so a sinkhole is most likely to develop in an agricultural field, in a farm field, and that's where we find them," explained University of Wisconsin-Green Bay associate professor of geoscience John Luczaj.

Luczaj says sinkholes are prone to land where bedrock is dissolvable with rainwater. He says that type of bedrock can be found under some counties Northeast Wisconsin east of the Niagara Escarpment.

The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey says sinkholes in Wisconsin tend to be smaller than 10 feet across.

Even though large sinkholes like the one in Florida are extremely rare here, Luczaj says you can't rule it out.

"We do have some caves in places here in Door County, where there are caves as much as 90 feet deep, so it's possible," Luczaj said.

Area emergency personal say they are prepared.

Firefighters at the Oshkosh Fire Department will participate in their annual structural collapse training this week.

Battalion chief Rick Krumenauer says it helps them prepare for unique emergencies from a building collapse to trench or sinkhole situations.

"That's they type of training we'll do in the next couple of days, is awareness," explained Krumenauer. "Being aware of and recognizing the situation you might be responding to, so you don't take that extra step, maybe take that step back, and gather more information, it's very important in what we do in a number of different situations."

Krumenauer says other area fire departments also take part in this type of yearly training.

Experts say people do mistake roadway or culvert wash-outs for sinkholes.