Etna Residents Complain About Response, Issues In Fatal Fire
Posted
Jackie Gorski-
ETNA GREEN – A group of people from a mobile home park and family members of a man who died in a fire went to complain about the response time of the fire department and issues surrounding a fire Sunday attended the Etna Green Town Council meeting Tuesday.
According to information provided by Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. Chris Francis, a call came in at 11:11 p.m. Sunday reporting a mobile home fire in the Etna Green Mobile Home Park, lot 34, where they located the dead body of Arthur J. Peterson, 42.
The incident remains under investigation by KCSO, the Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office and the Indiana State Fire Marshal.
The response time of the Etna Green Fire Department was discussed.
“The fire department needs something done about it. It does not take half an hour to get (to the fire), especially when Atwood (Fire Department) showed up before Etna Green,” one unidentified man said. “It took them half an hour for anyone to get there. I watched all the ****.”
When council member Jason Hanes said the fire department was volunteer, an unidentified man said maybe it needs better volunteers.
“They did not do their job,” the unidentified man said.
One woman said it is the responsibility of the volunteers to drop everything when they get a call.
Clerk-treasurer Patti Cook suggested he join the fire department. He said he couldn’t due to shoulder issues.
When asked why it took the fire department so long to respond, Hanes said because the volunteers “all have families like you.”
Hanes said the fire department is looking for volunteers and it’s up to the community, not the fire department, to fill those positions.
“I shouldn’t have to worry about if you have enough volunteer firemen,” one woman said, saying she relies on them to save her life and she shouldn’t have to worry about whether they don’t have enough volunteers or enough funding.
Issues with a fire hydrant were brought up as well.
One man said the fire hydrants needs to be fixed.
Another man said it took the responders half an hour to do anything because they couldn’t get the hydrant to work.
One unidentified family member of Peterson’s said there was no tanker when there should have been one in case something didn’t work, including the fire hydrant.
Hanes said he hadn’t heard anything about the fire hydrant not working.
Cook said she had information about it. Cook said when the Atwood Fire Department got to the scene of the fire, they did not have the adaptor to go into the fire hydrant.
One unidentified man said all fire departments should have the same fire equipment.
Hanes said it hurts “all of us when it happens in our community.” He informed those in attendance the town does not run the fire department. It’s actually under Etna Township control.
“We really have no say as to what the fire department does now,” Hanes said.
Council President Keith Claassen said Etna Township Rita Anglin needs to be talked to since she and the Etna Township Advisory Board run the fire department.
One unidentified man asked what the council was for then.
When Hanes reiterated the council doesn’t have a say in what the fire department, it was asked who they would talk to. It was handed over to the township a little over a year ago, he said, and the town pays the Township a fee for fire protection.
Town attorney Jay Rigdon said the town itself is limited by the state Legislature in what they can do in regards to what the township covers. The town has to contract with the township.
“Now if people are unhappy with the township coverage, there are ways to get larger fire districts organized between townships,” Rigdon said. Sometimes, it’s events like Sunday’s fire that cause it to happen.
The concept of creating bigger fire districts, in theory, is that it creates better coverage for the area, Rigdon said.
Hanes said the Township has a board and has meetings, just like the council does.
One man said the council is supposed to be the town’s voice.
Claassen said the council is going to look into the situation.
Hanes said he was going to get answers to their questions Tuesday night, noting he didn’t know of some of the issues. Hanes said when he says he’s going to follow up on something, he’s going to do that. He said he wasn’t aware of the fire hydrant issue.
Hanes asked for someone to represent the group and give him their information so he can give them what answers he can, as well as Anglin’s information and when the next township board meeting is.
Claassen said until they look into the situation, they can’t give the attendants any answers than they can answer themselves. He said the residents had more information about the fire because they were there and the council members weren’t on the fire department.
