INDIANAPOLIS, IN, JUNE 15, 2012 – A three-alarm fire destroyed an apartment building under construction. The 16 Park Apartments was a four-story, 60-unit, wood-framed building at 16th and Broadway.
Indianapolis firefighters were dispatched at 8:56 P.M. First-arriving units found the structure fully involved with heavy fire and smoke with heat so intense that it scorched paint on apparatus. Utility poles and overhead power lines were burning and dropping to the ground. Defensive operations were initiated and the second and third alarms were quickly sounded.
A total of 48 units with 191 firefighters were dispatched to the scene. Multiple aerial master streams, deck guns and handlines were used to control the fire. Shift Commander John Walker declared the fire under control in two hours. Units left the scene at 11:41 P.M. Twenty-nine neighboring apartment units were evacuated. One firefighter was transported to Methodist Hospital for treatment of injuries. Damage was estimated at $3.5 million. The origin and cause of the fire are under investigation by the Indianapolis Fire Department fire investigation unit. This was the third working fire in three hours that Indianapolis firefighters battled.
—Jay K. Bradish
