Family loses everything in fire near Fincastle
FINCASTLE -- It was a quite typical Friday night around the Dill residence east of Fincastle, but a night after which things will never be the same for the family.
Four of the five family members were home, hunkered down for the night, while oldest daughter Krissy was still at work at the Crawfordsville McDonald's, and youngest daughter Victoria, 14, was checking on the dozen chicks she was raising in the basement, preparing to release them into the barn on Saturday.
Son Jeremiah, the youngest Dill sibling at 13, was getting ready to go to his bedroom for the night at about 8:15, while dad Mike Dill was adding some small sticks to one of two fireplaces in the comfortable ranch-style home, a half-mile east of U.S. 231 along County Road 1000 North.
Moments later, however, wife Debra told him smoke had blown back into the room and he needed to check the chimney flue.
There was smoke in the laundry room and an unmistakable electrical smell as Dill walked through each room in the basement. When he hit the master bedroom, he turned on the light to find smoke pouring out of the vents.
Ordering his family outside, Dill said they went unprepared into the cold night. His son essentially ran out in his underwear. The boy, his sister and mother all ran out without shoes, which caused Dill to run back into the burning home as his wife dialed 9-1-1.
"I couldn't leave my family freezing out there," he reasoned, noting that he ran back in and grabbed shoes, coats and a couple boxes of family photos.
In all, Dill made three trips back inside the home, including a final effort to try to rescue the baby chicks for his youngest daughter. Standing outside the walk-out basement, Dill could hear the chicks but couldn't see them because of the thick smoke.
"The room above where the chicks were was already on fire," Dill said, but that didn't stop him from trying to find them until smoke and fire got the best of him.
"My son was outside pointing (at something above Dill's head), I couldn't quite see because of the smoke."
Turns out the boy was pointing at flames ravaging the area right above his father.
That's when discretion proved the better part of valor and Dill left the burning building.
"The last thing I grabbed before I left was my Bible," he said somberly.
Dill estimates the fire went from just smoke to a fully-engulfed major blaze in only 15-20 minutes.
"It was so hopeless just watching it go," added Dill, who was later treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation.
He was sent home about 1 a.m. and stopped back at the Fincastle area home and thought things weren't as bad as he imagined earlier.
"The kitchen was intact," he said, noting that the dining room, guest room and daughters' two bedrooms appeared salvageable. He could even see that his pool table downstairs didn't seem too worse for wear.
But overnight, while the family stayed at the Holiday Inn at Crawfordsville, the fire reignited and all that Dill envisioned saved was lost.
"By the time we got back the next morning, it was all gone," he said.
A backhoe was brought in Saturday morning to spread out the debris in order to completely extinguish the fire since the house had collapsed into the basement.
"The firemen did a fabulous job trying to save what they could," the homeowner said.
Even though the Dills detected an electrical fire smell at the outset, he believes the chimney was the culprit. The chimney fell over about 15 minutes into the fire, he said.
"It really wasn't a big fire (in the fireplace)," Dill said, "just sticks and kindling. I was getting ready to throw a log in there."
Dill praised his children for handling the stressful situation well.
"The kids have been champs through this whole thing," he said, noting that his oldest daughter, Krissy, 17, has been a high school swimmer and the fire has robbed her of all her souvenir ribbons and medals, her senior banner and even her North Putnam letterjacket.
The Dills, who hope to rebuild on the same property, "have been very blessed," he said "to have such a great church community."
People from their former church, Roachdale Christian, have been wonderful during the ordeal. The Dills currently attend Rock Point in Crawfordsville.
"We're really overwhelmed with the support we've had," Dill said. "We have some great people here."
Friends and neighbors have begun collecting clothing and household goods for the family. Their sizes are:
Mike -- 36 x 34 pants, large or extra large shirts, size 10-1/2 shoes.
Debra -- Size 4 pants, medium tops, size 8 or 8-1/2 shoes.
Jeremiah, 13 -- Size 14/16 pants, large shirts, size 7 shoes.
Victoria, 14 -- Size 7 pants, medium shirts, size 8 shoes.
Krissy, 17 -- Size 4 pants, small shirts, size 8 or 8-1/2 shoes.
Items can be dropped off at Shuee and Sons on the west side of the square in Greencastle. Anyone who needs more information about donations may call Nancy McHargue at 522-1456 or 721-1457.