Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, December 24, 2013
(BUDDAH) - When the call came in at 11:11 a.m. this morning reporting a kitchen fire and a child trapped inside firefighter’s with their hearts in their throats raced to the scene at 8454 Tunnelton Road.
"I was the first one on the scene," says Guthrie Firefighter Phil Johnson. "The family was hysterical when I arrived, the mother was screaming my baby, my baby is still inside."
Johnson then rushed into the burning home to look for who he thought was an infant.
"I rushed into the kitchen area which was engulfed in flames looking for a high chair...anywhere an infant could be," Johnson says.
While Johnson was searching inside the burning home, 19-year-old Lindsey Perry rushed out the front door of the home.
"Lou refers to her daughter as her baby," says son-in-law Todd Wray, who rushed to the scene after a frantic call from April "Lou" Perry.
Lindsey, Lou and her husband Mark Perry were all home when the fire started in the oven. Their son, Steven, who also lives in the home was at work in Bloomington.
"It wasn't a grease fire," Wray says. "I don't know if the stove malfunctioned or what happened."
Firefighters from Guthrie, Shawswick, Pleasant Run and Marion all rushed to the scene.
"When a call comes in with someone trapped inside your adrenaline gets to pumping and your heart starts racing," says Shawswick Safety Officer Terry Pemberton. "The first thing you do is a preliminary search of the home. Then after you find the person you tackle the fire."
When firefighters arrived the kitchen area was engulfed in flames.
"We were able to contain the blaze to that area, but the kitchen is destroyed and there is smoke damage throughout the house," Pemberton says
TOPES, officers from the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department and an IU Health Hospital ambulance assisted at the scene.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.