Crews respond to apartment fire

Thursday, April 30, 2009
Fire crews work on overhauling, or checking for hot spots, in an apartment at 1025 S. Fillmore Road following a grease fire shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday. No injuries were reported.

Just after 8 p.m. Wednesday, fire crews were dispatched to a structure fire at 1025 S. Fillmore Road, Apt. 1.

"It was a grease fire," said Fire Chief Bill Nugent.

The occupant, Rachel Lucero, was home when the fire began. Lucero and her pets, a dog and cat, and the occupants of two other adjoining apartments escaped without injury.

However, Lucero's cat was having difficulty breathing when found near the apartment. Operation Life assisted with some oxygen to the animal before veterinarian Jason Huff arrived on the scene.

Lucero's apartment is part of a triplex owned by Bill Earl and Russ Hessler, doing business as KZ Properties in Greencastle. The other two dwellings suffered smoke damage and crews checked carbon monoxide levels in both before leaving the scene.

Red Cross was on hand to provide places for the three families to stay for the night.

There was an estimated $30,000 in damages, but should not be a total loss. The total estimate included contents of the apartment in which the fire broke out, said Nugent.

The Greencastle Fire Department was assisted by Fillmore, Cloverdale, Bainbridge and Madison Township fire departments along with Putnam County Operation Life.

Crews were back in service at 10 p.m.

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  • So generous of OL to assist the cat and glad to hear no one was injured, BUT why was Greencastle assisted by Fillmore and the others when it's Fillmore's area?

    -- Posted by what_it's_worth on Thu, Apr 30, 2009, at 6:36 AM
  • It was not in Fillmore's area. It was in Greencastle's Area.

    -- Posted by Palimino on Thu, Apr 30, 2009, at 6:49 AM
  • In response to the above comment from what_it's_worth, the fire was actually in Greencastle at the corner of 240 and Fillmore Rd. not in Fillmore. That is why Fillmore assisted Greencastle.

    -- Posted by iumcrn on Thu, Apr 30, 2009, at 7:53 AM
  • Who cares whose area it is they all work together any way. And they did a GOOD JOB:)

    -- Posted by derrr1 on Thu, Apr 30, 2009, at 3:44 PM
  • This was my sister that this happend to

    -- Posted by croth21 on Thu, Apr 30, 2009, at 7:05 PM
  • I realized that after I had posted the comment. My mistake.

    -- Posted by what_it's_worth on Fri, May 1, 2009, at 8:02 AM
  • Hey my dad helped put that fire out. Good Job dad

    -- Posted by PVT.Miller Todd USMC on Fri, May 1, 2009, at 11:47 AM
  • this was my house and hey christina! yep. rachel lucero is my mom

    -- Posted by kaylielucero on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 6:18 AM
  • we were doing our homework, and all of a sudden i heard i bug pop. i thoust it was a light i was in my bedroom on the top bunk of our bed. all i coult see was orange so i jumped off of the bed and saw that the french fries we were making, had been on fire. we all ran out before anything too serious happened. our cat? she is now blind. shes breathing ok, but she wont eat she walks funky and shes blind. the dog is ok though. i havent seen my cat since the fire. its may 5, i miss her. when i saw the fire me and my sister ran out for help. we saw a car come. my mom dialed 911, and we went across the street waiting for more help.

    -- Posted by kaylielucero on Wed, May 6, 2009, at 6:22 AM
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