Car crash fire spreads to nearby houses

MONTICELLO, Ind. (WLFI) - It was a total call-out Tuesday morning for Monticello firefighters and a few surrounding agencies.

Around 6:30 a.m., emergency crews responded to an initial report of a car crash.

"They arrived on scene and were taking care of the patient. About nine minutes later, we started getting 911 calls of house fires all along the 5800 block of U.S. 24," said Monticello Fire Department Assistant Chief Robert Hickman.

Investigators say a driver was coming around a curve over the Washington Street Bridge and hit a utility pole on U.S. 24. That's when the problems escalated.

"As a result of the crash, a NIPSCO power line was knocked lose and landed on a Comcast cable line and the backfield of electricity went into the houses," said Asst. Chief Hickman.

At least five homes caught fire following the crash. One of those homes belongs to Lynn Wilson. He and his wife we're watching TV when they heard the sirens.

"Both polls were on fire and pretty soon, I get my jacket on and come outside to see what was going on (being nosy) and I look behind the couch and the fire was shooting up behind the couch," Wilson said.

Lynn's house suffered damage both outside and in. The siding on the side of the home is scorched. His living room wall is blackened where the cable socket is and he and his wife are now out two TV's.

"It was crazy," said Wilson.

Firefighters went door to door, checking the homes in the 5800 block of U.S. 24, marking the houses they checked with red tape. A total of 30 homes were checked. Not everyone was home at the time, so Asst. Chief Hickman said firefighters did have to make forced entry in a few of those homes. Anyone who noticed damage should contact the Monticello Fire Department at 574-583-3151.

"It's not real common but yeah, it's happened before. When the cable line gets energized, or the phone line or anything like that, things just start back feeding and they are not designed to hold the current a regular power line does,"

The female driver, identified as 23-year-old Jaime L. Tunis involved in the crash was taken to IU White Hospital with minor injuries and later released. Tunis said she was driving east on U.S. 24 when she came to the curve, lost control of the vehicle, and flew off the road striking the pole.

U.S. 24 was back open to traffic as of 9 a.m.