July 2, 1971

Blaze at Center Grove

       Between 35 and 40 firemen and five fire fighting units battled a barn blaze at the J.D. Fulmer Orchard property late Friday afternoon.  The property, located across from the Center Grove High School, drew many spectators and firemen were required to make several trips to secure additional water.  The upper part of the barn was destroyed and the blaze started about 5 p.m. at the rear of the building from burning grass.  J.D. Fulmer, owner, said the building was used for storage and contained about $1,500 worth of boxes and crates for packing apples.  Loss by fire to the building was estimated at about $3,500.  Firemen prevented the spread of the blaze to two other buildings used in the orchard business.  Fulmer, who discovered the blaze, could not attribute the start of the flames in the grass since there were no trash fires in the area.  However, firemen said that they believed that the burning grass started the destructive blaze because the outside of the back part of the building was burned first where the grass was all burned.  Fulmer paid high tribute to the fire departments from Bargersville and White River Township who stopped the spread of the flames.  Bargersville had three units and White River two.  (Courtesy of the Daily Journal)

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