WIND-SWEPT FIRE
DESTROYS DELAWARE COUNTY HOME IN INDIANA
Firefighters from multiple districts responded to a two
story house fire in rural Gaston Wednesday afternoon. The blaze, fueled by
strong sustained winds, was made even more difficult to fight by having to ship
water to the scene from a convoy of tanker trucks.(Photo: , Corey Ohlenkamp/The
Star Press)Buy Photo
GASTON -- A wind-swept fire destroyed a couple's home in
northwestern Delaware County on Wednesday.
Firefighters from Gaston, Summitville, Matthews and
Fairmount contended with single-digit temperatures - and a wind chill that made
it feel like it was 20 below zero - in battling the mid-day blaze.
Gaston Fire Chief Mike Dobbs said the wind was an
"extreme factor" in the two-story wood-frame house's destruction,
creating a virtual "blow torch" when flames emerged from the home's
roof.
The fire - at the home of Jerry and Nancy Rodecap, 16090
W. Delaware County Road 1100-N - was reported shortly before noon.
Dobbs said Jerry Rodecap, 65, "smelled something
hot" and alerted his wife, then at work at a health care center in nearby
Summitville.
Firefighters but I want to blaze despite Highwinds and
frigid temperatures in Gaston. Corey Ohlenkamp
After smoke became visible, Rodecap gathered the
couple's prescription medications - and the family dog, Mick - and sought
refuge in the cap of his pickup truck, with its engine running to combat the
frigid conditions.
Nancy Rodecap, 57, called 911 before returning home,
However, there was apparently confusion after that call was received by 911
dispatchers in Anderson, and firefighters from Gaston, about six miles away,
were sent to the scene before firefighters in the considerably closer Madison
County town of Summitville.
The couple's property sits on the Delaware-Madison
county line.
Dobbs, in the first Gaston truck at the scene, said the
flames were already visible on the roof when he arrived. The extremely cold
weather "hampered" the firefighting efforts, he said, as
"everything started freezing."
However, Dobbs said he believed the house - with the
fire apparently starting in its attic - likely could not have been saved even
under better conditions.
Keeping a supply of water available was helped by the proximity
of Summitville, he said, and firefighters were rotated in and out of the battle
to give them an opportunity to warm up in nearby vehicles.
An American Red Cross van eventually came to the scene
to give firefighters easier access to warmth.
A family cat perished in the fire, according to the
Rodecaps' nephew, Mark Antrim, who added that the blaze was believed to be
electrical in nature.
He said the couple, both longtime local residents, had
lived in the house for about 30 years.
The Rodecaps have several relatives in the area, Antrim
said, and planned to spend Wednesday night at his family's house.
