December 16, 2008

Home destroyed by blaze

       More than 30 firefighters from two counties battled a blaze that destroyed a farmhouse west of Bargersville on Monday afternoon.  Fire engulfed the front of the limestone-walled home at 751 S. County Road 700W near the Morgan County line before firefighters arrived.

         Six departments used tankers to haul water from the nearest fire hydrant about two miles away.  Billowing white smoke from the blaze could be seen from miles away. Flames reached about 30 feet high at the fire's peak, just after 2 p.m.  "This was really a blazing inferno," Bargersville Fire Department spokesman Paul Bird said. "They really showed courage going in there when it was just roaring. This fire had a lot of lead time to build up."  The homeowner wasn't home at the time of the fire.

         Firefighters entered the burning house from the garage to the rear to stop the fire from spreading back toward the barn. The heat inside the house likely was at least 1,200 degrees, Bird said.  A rapid response team stood ready to pull out any downed firefighters, in case the rafters or walls collapsed on them.  "When you have a fire like that, or anytime you have a fire, anything could happen," Bird said. "The roof could give out. The floor could give out from under you."

         Firefighters from Bargersville, Franklin, Trafalgar, White River Township, Morgantown and Green Township in Morgan County responded to the fire, which was called in at about 1:45 p.m.  The Bargersville fire department had a 3,000-gallon tanker and a 1,500-gallon tanker on hand but knew right away that they would need additional tankers to haul water to the site, Bird said. The firefighters ran water tankers two miles away from the blaze to the nearest hydrant at Union Elementary School for about an hour.  Even without a hydrant nearby, the firefighters were able to get the fire under control in about a half-hour, Bird said. Rubble continued to smolder long after.  A Bargersville crew stayed at the scene late into the evening to make sure there were no flare-ups, Bird said.  The blaze laid waste to most of the one-story home and caused an estimated $220,000 in damage.  The home belonged to Keith Morris, an equipment operator who lived there alone. He's the brother of Mike Morris, a Bargersville Fire Department battalion chief who lives next door.  Mike Morris, who was off-duty Monday, first reported the blaze on his department radio after he went out to pick up the mail and saw smoke coming from under an eave of the house.  A trucker with Bolt Trucking had stopped and was waving for help, Bird said.  The farmhouse was the Morris' childhood home, and their parents added Brown County limestone walls to the exterior in the 1970s.  Firefighters will start an investigation into what caused the fire as soon as the debris cools down, Bird said.  (Photos and story reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)
 

  
(Click on a thumbnail to enlarge photo)
    

---