advertisement:
The 1891 house was moved to its site at 5211SE-Ind. 116, about a half mile east of Six Mile Church, in a spectacular and much watched procession through downtown Bluffton on Sept. 6, 1997.
Wednesday’s event was no less spectacular but unfortunately tragic.
According to Fire Chief Bob Plummer, the cause of the fire remains under investigation, however information at the fire scene was that Leonard was using a heat gun to thaw some pipes in an upstairs bathroom around 1 p.m. He decided to check on something downstairs and when he returned, the bathroom was filling up with smoke.
He tried to douse the fire using a bucket of water but it was already working its way into the wall.
Plummer stated that was the information that he had received at the scene also. He was not disputing it, but it still remained to be confirmed through investigation. He confirmed the fire started in the west wall of the house and it did appear to have its origin in the bathroom.
Leonard called 911 at 1:05 p.m. and the Bluffton Fire Department was dispatched. Fed by winds out of the west at 24 MPH gusting to 30 MPH, the fire quickly spread to the attic of the house. Smoke was pouring out the eaves of the house when firefighters arrived.
The smoke quickly developed into heavy gray smoke which poured from the house, sweeping out over the countryside to the east, obliterating it from view.
Realizing the enormity of the task that lay ahead, mutual aid was requested from Poneto Berne, Liberty Center and Nottingham Twp. fire departments.
Ossian firefighters were paged out for standby at the Bluffton Fire Department in case any other fire calls were received.
Firefighters tried attacking the blaze from both the outside and inside, but 20 minutes into the battle, flames erupted through the west side of the roof. Fed by the strong winds, the entire west side of the roof quickly became engulfed in flames posing the danger of collapse. The klaxon went out for all firefighters inside to evacuate. Bluffton firefighters poured out the front door. Minutes later, the roof gave way and collapsed into the upper story of the structure, catching it on fire.
The Bluffton Department used its large aerial truck to deluge the blaze from above, pouring tens of thousands of gallons of water through the openings in the roof. The Berne Fire Department was able to draft water by breaking through the Leonards’ frozen pond to feed the aerial.
The fire burned for several more hours, destroying and damaging numerous antiques and valuable furnishings on the third and second floors. As control of the fire was gained, firefighters re-entered the house and managed to rescue many of the valuables on the first floor by moving them to the attached three-car garage, which was not damaged by the fire.
Plummer noted that the first floor was largely unscathed by the fire, but it did sustain heavy smoke and water damage. “The aerial pumps out 1,200 gallons of water per minute, and that water had to go somewhere,” noted Plummer.
As fire trucks came and went from the fire scene, sheriff’s deputies had Ind. 116 closed at 450E to the west and 600E to the east. The road was reopened to one lane of traffic at the fire scene at 3:22 p.m. Indiana Department of Transportation salt trucks were requested at the scene as water leaking from the fire trucks quickly froze on the pavement.
Firefighters had to also battle bitterly cold temperatures. It was 14 degrees with a minus-5 windchill. One of the hydrants that they tried to access at the Bluffton Middle School had frozen. A second one nearby was in working order, said Plummer. Once the fire was doused, Bluffton Water Utility was contacted to winterize both hydrants.
The cold also caused anything that was not in use for very long to freeze up, stated Plummer. However, he added that nothing froze during the battling of the blaze. Also no firefighters suffered frostbite and no one was injured. It was his understanding that Leonard was home alone at the time of the fire.
The loss was estimated to exceed $200,000. The house was insured through Sunier & Lockwood of Bluffton. An insurance adjuster was expected to be on scene today.
Plummer added that one of the concerns during the fighting of the fire was the large brick chimney and a large brick cistern located on one of the upper floors. The fear was both would collapse while firefighters were in the house, however both remained in place.
The house, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was insured.
The large Queen Anne-style home was moved from its former location at 521 West Market St. in the morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 6, 1997 and transported by Merkle Heavy Moving Inc. of Ohio City, Ohio, down Market St. through downtown Bluffton and then down River Rd. to 450E and east on Ind. 116. The move was witnessed by hundreds—if not thousands—of people as it was also aired briefly during local television newscasts.
glenw@news-banner.com
Read this story in our E-Edition, Click Here
Talk about this story in our forums!