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6 people, including 4 children, killed in Indiana fire

Posted at 6:12 AM, Nov 28, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-28 06:36:07-05

LOGANSPORT, Ind. –  (FOX 59) -- Six people, including four children, are dead after getting trapped in a Logansport, Indiana house fire.

The call for the fire came out around 1:50 a.m. in the 4300 block of Pottawatomie Road on the east side of the city, according to our affiliate FOX 59.

Cass County Fire Lt. Steve Krispen says the sheriff’s department arrived on the scene first. They rescued two adults who are now at the hospital.

But there were still six people inside the two-story home who they were not able to reach. The home was 80 percent involved with heavy fire at the time.  Video from Mitchell Kirk with the Pharos-Tribune shows the flames.

“It’s pretty numbing when initial dispatch is telling us people are entrapped in the structure and they’re saying multiple people,” Lt. Krispen said.

Fire crews went on attack and tried to get inside and rescue the others, but they were unsuccessful.

The house is in a rural, non-hydrated area, so they had to truck in water to battle the flames. Crews were out of water within five minutes, and they had to stop fighting the fire until more water could be transported to them.

Also, the freezing temperatures made it more difficult.

Nearly five hours later, it’s still an active fire, and crews haven’t been able to recover the victims’ remains yet.

“We’re probably going to have to wait until daytime and stuff to get heavy equip in here and make sure the structure is safe enough for us to go in there and do recovery of the individuals that are in here,” Lt. Krispen said.

Lt. Krispen has been working with the fire department for 35 years, and he says it’s been one of the toughest days of his life.

“It’s very difficult what this community has gone through the last couple of months… the Logansport fire department losing two young children in a structure fire on the south side… two weeks later they lost an elderly person on the southeast end. Now we have this going on here where we’ve apparently lost six people in this fire here,” Lt. Krispen said.

The coroner is on the scene, and the state fire marshal is on his way to help determine the cause and origin of the fire.

The sheriff’s department said they did not hear any smoke detectors when they arrived at the scene.