About 3:45 p.m. Nov. 11, Sunman Rural Fire Department members received a report of a woods on fire at County Road 1000 East, near Frontage Road, just northeast of town.
“As we were leaving Sunman, we saw a lot of smoke in that area,” reports Assistant Chief Bill Craig. As crews got closer and saw that the woods was on fire, they began to direct their efforts to getting it under control.
Sunman Area Life Squad members “who go to a lot of our fires” to provide help if someone is injured, “called and said they would go down by the residence next to the woods and set up in the driveway.
“There was a pole building structure adjacent to the woods .... They called us back to tell us that building was involved .... We called out for another alarm, to Morris (Volunteer Fire Department) for mutual aid,” requesting an engine, tanker and manpower.
By the time firefighters arrived at the building, the blaze had gotten inside the structure, “where it scorched the beams.” A 250-gallon diesel fuel tank was inside the open-face building. The flames “had burnt off all the tank’s hoses,” but they got it under control. “Within another half hour” it would have been destroyed.
Even though quite a bit of ground cover, several large trees and some implement equipment that was stored in the woods were burnt, “there was really no damage to the woods,” Craig revealed.
Twenty-five firefighters, 13 from Sunman and 12 from Morris, responded, and no one was injured.
Diane Raver can be contacted at 812-934-4343, Ext. 114; or diane.raver@ batesvilleheraldtribune.com. To comment on stories, visit batesvilleheraldtribune.com.
