07/17/13 On Tuesday July, 16 about 9:35 a.m. the LaPaz Fire Department along with Polk Township Fire Departments were dispatched to the 2900 block of Redwood Road in Polk Township on a report of a residential garage fire.
Crews arrived on scene and found that the garage was attached to the home and the fire had spread into the house. There was heavy smoke and flames coming from the two story home.
Due to the extreme outside temperature and lack of fire hydrants numerous fire departments were utilized.
The departments that were used from Marshall County include Bremen, Culver, Argos, Bourbon, LaPaz, Polk Township, Plymouth Fire, Marshall County EMA, and LaPaz EMS. Starke County fire department included: Koontz Lake and Washington Township. The Nappanee Fire Department from Kosciusko County assisted and St. Joseph County departments included: Lakeville, South West Central Fire Territory, North Liberty, Walkerton, Warren Twp., Penn Twp., Osceola, Clay Fire Territory and New Carlisle.
Three Firefighters were treated for symptoms of heat exhaustion on scene by Plymouth EMS, LaPaz EMS and Walkerton EMS. No firefighters required transport to the Hospital.
It was estimated through the day 60 firefighters were used, with an estimated 60,000- 70,000 gallons of water shuttled in.
A cache of 800 mhz was requested from Marshall County EMA Director Clyde Avery, this was instrumental in coordinating on scene operations with Fire Departments from three separate counties. The County EMA also assisted in providing a cooling center, an air conditioned bus from Older Adult Services to allow fire fighters the opportunity to sit down and cool off after battling the blaze.
At this time the fire is currently under investigation. The Indiana State Fire Marshall’s office will be assisting with the on scene investigation Wednesday morning.
The deeded owners of the property are listed as John and Dian Small on the County’s GIS system
