January 20, 1961

News from White River Twp VFD

       The fire department was called at 10:05 p.m. January 20, to a house owned by Wynn Gregg on Morgantown Road just east of the Mount Pleasant addition.  The house was occupied by the Harold McClain family.  The lights went out in the house and someone went outside to see why and discovered the house was on fire.  The fire department arrived moments later with three trucks and seventeen firemen.  Upon arriving, we couldn’t find any members of the family and a quick check of all the rooms was taken, finding no one.  Later on, our Chief Russ Young, was informed that the family had left the area after turning in the alarm.  After battling the blaze and seeing that we were running low on water, Bargersville, Greenwood, and Perry Township fire departments were called to assist us.  The Bargersville Department responded with a pumper and several firemen.  Greenwood sent its 3,500 gallon tanker with firemen.  Perry Township aided us with a pumper and several firemen.  All of the above fire departments worked in near zero temperature for three and one half hours before bringing the fire under control.  The low temperature was a hindrance and a hazard as the spray from the streams of water coated every man and piece of equipment.  There were lines and pumps frozen and men who felt like they were frozen.

         We had five firemen who suffered injuries.  They were all from the White River Fire Department, Second Lieutenant Edward Hinkle suffered the most severed injury when a trim board from the top of the west end of the house fell on him as he was on a ladder fighting the fire in a upper room.  First Captain Joseph Porter ran a nail into the ball of his foot.  Assistant Chief Ralph Wilson received facial burns when a back flash occurred in a room where he was trying to extinguish the blaze.  Richard Wehrman stepped on a nail, injuring his heel.  Harry Fleener received a slight eye injury when a foreign object blew into his right eye.  Sixteen – thousand gallons of water was used in fighting the fire.

         As the firemen were nearly frozen from the cold, four members of the ladies’ Auxiliary Mary Harris, Phyllis Kelso, Laura Hinkle and Nancy Raber arrived with coffee and sandwiches.  They were assisted by Bernice McCreary, who kept the coffee-pot going at her home for return trips.  As they were serving the coffee, a Mr. Harry Dunn approached one of the ladies and insisted they accept a five dollar donation from him to help pay for the coffee and sandwiches.  The Ladies Auxiliary truly appreciated this as their budget is very limited.  Most of the time, the coffee and sandwiches are donated by the members themselves.  (Reprinted with permission from the Indianapolis Star)
 

    
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