An Upland firefighter was flown to Fort Wayne's Parkview Hospital after being critically injured Wednesday while trying to save another firefighter's house from flames.
Marion Fire Chief Steve Gorrell said Sidney Hall was trapped after he fell through the floor while he and other members of the Upland Volunteer Fire Department were trying to put out a fire at 7056 E. 100N.
Hall was listed as critical as of 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, according to an Upland fire department news release.
Hall was the first one to enter the house, said Gary Robinson, fire service grants and risk manager with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Hall had taken four steps in when he fell through the hole, Robinson said Wednesday night at the fire scene while investigating the injury.
Other firefighters rushed to get him out of the house as smoke came billowing out, shouting, "Get him out of there!" as they got him to safety.
"He was pulled out of the fire and was unresponsive," Gorrell said.
Gorrell said he believed Hall suffered from a combination of injuries, one of which was possibly smoke inhalation. He did not know how long Hall had been trapped.
Seven other firefighters - six from Matthews Volunteer Fire Department and one from Center Township Volunteer Fire Department - suffered injuries trying to save him and were taken to Marion General Hospital, Robinson said.
All but one were expected to be released from MGH on Wednesday, with the last one being kept overnight for observation, Robinson said.
"The firefighters did a real good job," Robinson said.
The fire was still more personal to the firefighters because the house owner is one of their own, Eddy Miller, who is a firefighter with the Marion department.
Neither he nor Ashley Watters, who lives with him, were home when the fire started, said Watters' mother, Cinda Vermilion.
Family members did begin to grow worried after they still could not contact Miller about an hour after the fire started. They feared he may have been inside.
Those fears were allayed, though, when Miller's truck pulled up. He jumped out and dropped his head in his hands as his family comforted him.
The fire was reported at 3:21 p.m. when Grant County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Sands was driving by the house when a neighbor flagged him down, asking if he had a cell phone, Sands said.
Fred Sumpter, assistant chief of investigation for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, said the fire started in the basement with bad wiring in a light socket near the ceiling.
The fire burned the hole in the floor that Hall fell through.
Along with Upland, Matthews and Center and Mill townships, Gas City and Van Buren also provided manpower for the original call.
Marion dispatched themselves after they heard that a firefighter had become trapped, Gorrell said.
"When a firefighter is trapped, we all come," he said.
Gorrell said he was not sure how much damage the house suffered because all the departments were focused on helping to get the man out.
The destruction to the house comes just after Miller and Watters had finished remodeling it, Vermilion said. They had gutted the upstairs, installed new floors and applied fresh paint.
Neighbor Debbie Brubaker said she knew Miller and Watters had been putting in a lot of work to the house.
"They've been working on it every day," she said at the scene after she had brought over some bottled water for the firefighters.
Copyright 2007 by the Chronicle-Tribune.
Republished with permission of the Chronicle-Tribune.
