April 4, 1977

Series of field fires extinguished

       Sunday morning while many Johnson County residents were on their way to church for special Easter services - a number of Johnson County firefighters were answering a call for help as a number of raging grass fires were spreading along the ConRail (Penn Central) railroad tracks from Greenwood to Whiteland.  Fire officials are blaming a ConRail freight train which was sending sparks intro dry grass, as the cause of at least six fires which spread from County Line Road to Whiteland Road Sunday morning.

         Firefighters from Greenwood, White River Township, and Whiteland battled the grass fires throughout the Sunday and into the early evening.  Working desperately to keep the fire from spreading to the west side of the rail tracks and into the Greenwood Industrial Park, firefighters had to battle mucky field conditions as well.  One firefighter noted, "The ground was very wet, due to heavy rains of last week, but strong gusty winds on Saturday dried out the surface brush making the fire possible."

         The first fire report was at 9:20 a.m. near the intersection of County Line Road and the railroad tracks.  Within 30 minutes, five other fires had been reported between County Line Road and Whiteland Road.  The fires were reported near Craig Park, Valle Vista, north and south of County Road 750N and County Road 700N.  The firefighters were assisted by a number of nearby residents, including one youth on a trail bike who carried messages from field to the command post, and a farmer who brought out a tractor to plow over the field and contain the fire.

         Officials at ConRail said today that they were not aware of the fires.  The fires flared periodically throughout the day and firefighters made a number of trips to the area.  Fortunately because the fields had not been plowed damage was minimal.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

Note:  In the photos below, White River Township firefighter Dave Fishel is seen working along the railroad tracks and damage to the department's grass rig is shown following the fire.

     
(Click on a thumbnail to enlarge photo)

 

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