Man remains hospitalized following Saturday morning fire

A Greencastle man remains hospitalized with severe burns following an early-morning Saturday garage fire south of Forest Hill Cemetery.

At 1:58 a.m., Greencastle firefighters were dispatched to a garage fire at 2640 S. CR 25 West (Cemetery Road).

GFD units arrived five minutes later to find flames throughout the garage.

Although firefighters had the fire under control by 2:29 a.m., the two men who had been in the garage caused the most concern for responders.

According to Greencastle Fire Chief Bill Newgent, two adult men were in the garage attempting to start a fire in a wood stove.

With wood already in the stove, as well as paper for kindling, one of the men tried squirting denatured alcohol on the flames.

This caused the fire to flash onto the two men, resulting in serious burns.

The homeowner, whose name is not being released, was airlifted to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis for his burns. The other man was taken to Eskanazi by Operation Life ambulance.

While the second man was released the next day, the first man remained hospital as of Tuesday.

Having spoken to a family member, Newgent reported that the man is doing much better, but likely has a lot of recovering to do before being released.

"It's a very unfortunate situation," Newgent said. "Obviously it's an accident."

Other responding departments included Cloverdale Township, Madison Township, Reelsville and Fillmore fire departments, as well as law enforcement.

The garage was a total loss. The last fire unit left the scene at 4:05 a.m. Saturday.