At about 6:45 PM on Saturday, May 15, Stillwater firefighters from stations 1 & 2 were dispatched to a rural house fire in the 5900 block of South Union Rd. They responded with Pumper 1, Rural 2 (Tanker), and Ambulance 1 under the command of Battalion Chief Gary Stanton. While enroute to the scene ( about a 10.5 mile run), Chief Stanton had dispatch call the Ripley Volunteer Fire Department and the Ingalls Volunteer Fire Department to send their tankers to the scene.
Upon arrival, Chief Stanton reported a 2 story frame house with fire showing on 3 sides and ordered an exterior attack. Pumper 1 attacked the fire on sides 1 and 3 with 2 - 1 3/4 inch lines fed from the 1000 gallon tank on their unit. Rural 2 provided water to Pumper 1 through a 3 inch feeder line. Ripley's two tankers arrived and took over the feed when Rural 2's supply was exhausted and the Ingalls tanker took over from Ripley. A shuttle operation from a rural hydrant on a small line some 2.5 miles away was attempted, but this hydrant took too long to fill the tankers to make the shuttle effective and the water supply was exhausted. The fire spread throughout the building and it was destroyed.
