May 10, 1983

Firefighter injured during garage blaze

       A White River Township volunteer firefighter was injured last night fighting a fire in a garage touched off by gasoline spilled from an overturned motocross bike.  Damon Duncan suffered a head injury when he was struck by a loose fire hose.  Fire Chief Bob Henry said Duncan was treated at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove and released.  Bob Wehrman of White River Fire Department said the fire was reported at 9:35 p.m. at the home of Don Seay in the Carefree Estates addition west of Greenwood.  Wehrman said Seay’s son Brian, 10, had been riding a motocross bike and had put the vehicle in the garage about 6 p.m. Seay and his wife, Karen, left the house. Seay went to his office and Mrs. Seay returned to the house.  “When Mrs. Seay returned she found the bike had overturned in the garage and gasoline was on the floor,” Wehrman said. “Mrs. Seay and her son were in the process of uprighting the bike when the gas water heater ignited the gasoline’s fumes.”  Wehrman said both escaped the garage without injury and called the fire department from a neighbor’s home.  White River fire fighters were assisted by the Greenwood Fire Department.  The garage and a car were destroyed. The fire also spread to the attic.  Wehrman said damage to the one-story house was estimated at more than $40,000.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

 

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