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Firefighters Rush To Scene After Call Of People Trapped Inside, Becomes False Alarm

Last updated on Thursday, January 19, 2017

(BEDFORD) - Firefighters from Marion and Shawswick Volunteer Fire Department were alerted to a house fire with possible people trapped inside at 3:50 p.m. Wednesday.

Firefighters rushed to the home at 1302 Stevens Lane.

"Marion responded with Engine 52 and Tanker 53 with five firefighters," Marion VFD Chief Paul Gillespie says. "Shawswick VFD was alerted and Mitchell City Fire was put on standby because of the nature of the call."

When firefighters arrived there was smoke coming out of a stove pipe and the rest of the stove pipe was on the ground next to the home.

"Crews spoke with the resident and investigated the report," Chief Gillespie says. "There was no fire; the resident had a wood stove and the vertical pipe had fallen off. A passerby had stopped and told the resident that it had to be repaired and that they were going to call the fire dept then drove off."

Gillespie says the resident was letting the fire die down so they could complete repairs.

"The fire had not extended to the structure and there was no smoke inside the residence," Chief Gillespie added. "I'm not quite sure what the reporting party saw to call it in as a structure fire with people trapped inside, or if there was a breakdown in communicating on what was really going on."

Calls like this one make for a stressful situation for firefighters and police dispatchers.

"It's a very tense situation when someone is calling 911," Chief Gillespie added. "However, if you are reporting a emergency, please try to give the 911 dispatchers all the information you can and be as accurate as possible. This call started out sounding like lives were in danger and ended up being not what we were expecting, given the dispatch we received."

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