subscribesubscriber servicescontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Tue, Nov 10 2009 
Breaking News:  School board to vote on superintendent Tuesday  November 09, 2009 09:12 pm

Resources

print this story   Print this story
  Post to del.icio.us

Published July 15, 2008 06:24 am - ELWOOD — When firefighters arrived at the burning Plastech plant on Monday, it was clear immediately that mutual aid would be needed, according to Elwood Fire Department Lt. Shawn Loar.


9:30 p.m.: 14 departments respond to Plastech
Firefighters battled fire with threat of roof collapse


ELWOOD — When firefighters arrived at the burning Plastech plant on Monday, it was clear immediately that mutual aid would be needed, according to Elwood Fire Department Lt. Shawn Loar.

Aid arrived in the form of 14 neighboring departments who arrived on scene after the police-scanner tones dropped in scale, providing additional equipment and, more importantly, additional manpower to battle the blaze.

According to Pipe Creek Battalion Chief Myron Watson, those departments included Pipe Creek Township, Duck Creek Township, Frankton, Richland Township, Tipton, Ingalls, Alexandria, Pendleton, Chesterfield, Madison Township (Tipton County), Fishers and White River Township (Hamilton County) fire departments.

Nearly 25 water tankers were brought in from neighboring cities as firefighters struggled to battle the blaze without limiting the Elwood water supply, according to Todd Harmeson of the Madison County Emergency Management Agency. “When you draw that much water, the rest of the town still needs water.”

In addition to tanker trucks, aerial trucks from Elwood, Tipton and Anderson were on site to help fight the fire from above.

Though the proper equipment and manpower were provided, firefighters had difficulty getting to the source of the fire.

The fire was contained to the eight paint booths where the flames originated but firefighters were unable to hit the fire with a hose directly at first, due to excessive heat, Loar said. “It was pretty much almost impossible to get to. We made an entry and the heat was so bad, we had to back out.”

Loar said firefighters would’ve been forced to enter each paint booth room in order to battle the blaze. The heat, he said, was melting metal rafters within the plant, and causing the roof to bow. The threat of a roof collapse, he said, was a main concern for the four firefighters fighting the blaze from inside the plant. “It bowed quite a bit but never did fully collapse,” Loar said.

Firefighters were left with no option but to contain the fire, allowing it to burn. “It pretty much burnt itself out to where when we went in again, we pretty much just hit the hot spots.”

Despite the intense heat and numerous hazardous chemicals burned in the fire, no one was injured in the blaze.



print this story    email this story   
Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.
Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.






autoconx
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide

Sign up for Herald Bulletin
Email & Text Alerts








Premier Guide
Find a job! Find a Home! Find a car!


 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index