Firefighters from several departments told the Starke County Commissioners on Monday night that they continue to have problems with radio communication.
Assistant Chief Dave Pearman, Melba Shilling and Rick McCann
A 1970 American LaFrance Aero Chief Fire Truck that made its way from Stark County, Ohio to Starke County, Indiana has a new home at the Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department thanks to a local donor.
The truck has a boom that extends up to 90 feet and is fully functional. Assistant Fire Chief Dave Pearman said department officials are extremely grateful to Melba Shilling for providing this donation. Continue reading →
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 22nd, the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, Knox City Police, Starke County EMS, Knox Fire Department and Washington Township Fire Department responded to a traffic accident on State Road 8 near 600 East.
According to the police report, the accident involved three vehicles. The preliminary investigation indicates that a male juvenile was driving a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am traveling east on State Road 8 when he veered across the center line, striking a full-size handicap Ford van, occupied by a male and female traveling west on SR 8.Continue reading →
A house fire last week in Knox appears to have been set deliberately. That’s according to an investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Starke County Sheriff’s Department. Continue reading →
A fire that started in a garage at Bass Lake that spread to a home Wednesday night was deemed accidental.
Bass Lake firefighters, with the assistance of the Washington Township Fire Department, put out the blaze at the scene on the south side of Bass Lake. Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen told WKVI News that they were on the scene for about four hours. The Indiana State Fire Marshal was at the scene Friday to assess the damage and cause of the fire.
Members of the Bass Lake Fire Department battled a garage fire and a house fire Wednesday night.
Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen said they were called to the scene on the southside of the lake at 10:30 p.m. CT and the fire had spread to a neighboring home. Jensen said the garage was a total loss and the house suffered some damage.
The Indiana State Fire Marshal will visit the scene today (Friday) help investigate the cause of the fire.
No injuries were reported. Crews from the Washington Township Fire Department assisted.
Starke County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a crash at the intersection of State Roads 8 and 23 that sent one person to the hospital via MedFlight. The wreck happened around 6 last evening. The officers found one person pinned in a vehicle, according to a sheriff’s department news release. Continue reading →
A Saturday morning fire at a vacant home northeast of Knox was deliberately set, according to fire investigators.
The Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department was called to an unoccupied home at 8875 East 25 North in Knox just after 5 a.m. and remained on the scene for nearly two hours. They called in an investigator from the state fire marshal’s office to check things out as well.
An investigator from the state fire marshal’s office determined the cause of this Friday, June 14 fire.
An investigator from the state fire marshal’s office has determined the cause of a Friday afternoon house fire just west of Knox. The home on County Road 200 South just east of 200 East was in flames when firefighters from the Knox-Center Township Fire Department arrived at around 2:30 p.m. Continue reading →
This house on 200 South east of 200 east was in flames when the Knox-Center Township Volunteer Fire Department arrived Friday afternoon.
An investigator from the state fire marshal’s office has been called to look into the cause and origin of a Friday afternoon house fire in Knox. The home on County Road 200 South just east of 200 East was in flames when firefighters from the Knox-Center Township Fire Department arrived at the home around 2:30 p.m., and the occupants were next door. They spent about 90 minutes getting the flames under control. The Hamlet and Washington Township Volunteer Fire Departments brought additional water to the scene.
Thank you to WKVI listener Marcia Lockner for the photo of Sunday’s fire on 175 N. at U.S. 35
The cause of the house fire on 175 North just east of U.S. 35 in Starke County on Sunday was determined as arson.
Knox-Center Township Fire Chief Kenny Pfost said there were many areas of origin. The home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived at the scene. Firefighters were battling a woods fire at the time the house fire was called into the Sheriff’s Department. Hamlet and Washington Township firefighters assisted at the scene along with water and manpower support from the Koontz Lake Fire Department.
Some changes have been made in the way fire departments are being dispatched in Starke County with the way medical calls are being handled and a meeting is scheduled for tonight to explain some of those changes.
Dave Pearman from the Washington Township Fire Department said the process is being streamlined.
“There were Post-it notes that were covering the monitors in our 911 dispatch office and we looked within the fire service and within emergency services altogether and asked ourselves what could we change about that?” stated Pearman.
A single-vehicle crash Monday evening near Grovertown claimed a Plymouth woman’s life. Cathryn Ellison, 24, of Plymouth, was westbound on 300 North just west of 1100 East, lost control of her vehicle and was ejected, according to information provided this morning by the Starke County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded to a report of a vehicle in a ditch. Ellison was trapped underneath it. Starke County Chief Deputy Coroner Doug O’Donnell pronounced her dead at the scene. Her official cause of death is listed as traumatic asphyxiation. Coroner Kris Rannells tells WKVI news that means the weight of the vehicle on top of her would not allow her to breathe. The Hamlet Police Department, Koontz Lake, Hamlet and Washington Township Fire Departments and the Indiana State Police assisted the Starke County Sheriff’s Office at the scene. The Indiana State Police will be reconstructing the crash.
Firefighters responded to the call of a house fire in the 11,000 E. block of 150 S. on Monday.
Officials are working to determine the identity of the occupant who was found after a vehicle fire was extinguished last Wednesday.
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 22nd, the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, Knox City Police, Starke County EMS, Knox Fire Department and Washington Township Fire Department responded to a traffic accident on State Road 8 near 600 East.
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