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Eyewitnesses tell story of Friday morning's fire
The Friday-morning observation of a Greencastle commuter set off a chain of events that may have saved several lives and a city block from complete destruction.
Although the fire severely damaged several businesses, including Wilson's Photography, Greencastle Furniture, the Pawn Store and Dr. Perry Wainman DDS, firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading into the buildings at either end of the block of East Washington Street.
The concerned citizen who initially reported the problem was DePauw archivist Wes Wilson (no relation to the affected business owners).
Wilson told the Banner Graphic that he was on his way to work, having dropped his daughter off at Jackson's Double Decker for a school event.
As he drove west on Washington Street, preparing to turn south on Vine, he noticed black smoke rising from the area.
"I saw black smoke coming up from in back of the corner," Wilson said. "It was about as much as you'd see when you're burning food on your grill, which is not much, but a lot for 7:15 in the morning."
Continuing with his turn onto Vine Street, Wilson then pulled into the parking lot behind the buildings and noticed flames in the patio area on the second floor of the back of the Pawn Store. Again, he said the fire was consistent with what might come from a grill, but it quickly spread.
He then called 911, as well as beginning to alert those affected.
"While I was still on the phone, one of Wainman's staff was on the way in. I motioned to her and pointed to the fire, so she went in and they all got out," Wilson said.
Inside his building, Wainman was already off to a good start to his day. A 7 a.m. patient was already in and gone, with a second in the chair. When his employee came in reporting the fire, plans changed.
"I said, ladies, get out of here," Wainman said.
For both Wainman and Wes Wilson, the next thought was to alert Lester and Judy Wilson and their family, who live above their businesses at 24 and 26 E. Washington St.
The Wilsons, however, were already in the process of getting out, having discovered the problem for themselves.
As their daughter Alicia was coming out of the kitchen, she thought she heard the cat scratching at the door to the patio. As she approached the door, though, she began to feel heat and see an abnormal amount of light.
Realizing it was a fire, she alerted the rest of the family and they all began to leave the apartment.
Hearing there was a fire, Lester said he initially thought it was a smaller fire that he might be able to put out. Instead, he discovered the fire was already too big.
"My first thought was to grab a fire extinguisher and put it out," Lester said. "But there was no time to do that. When I heard glass shattering, I thought, no, that fire extinguisher is not going to do anything."
The Wilsons got out, with Lester and son Jeremy even going back to get the dog before things got out of hand.
"I know that's a no-no," Lester said.
The Wilsons did count their blessings that Alicia's three children had been escorted safely to the school bus about five minutes prior to the discovery of the fire.
With everyone out safely and firefighters on the scene, controlling the fire became the main concern. Wes Wilson said GFD actually controlled the fire on the patio quickly, but it had already spread into the buildings.
However, with many citizens standing and gawking much of the morning, Wilson was less concerned, knowing the professionals were on the scene and no one had been hurt.
He displayed the same kind of calm he did in describing cutting a tree that fell across his driveway in Greencastle's August 1990 downburst.
The tree only had to be cut because wife Elena was in labor with their son Ben.
As he did then, Wilson remained calm Friday morning.
"I didn't think there was much else I could do, so I went on to work," he said.