BLISSFIELD, MI -- Three firefighters were injured as a morning fire Saturday tore through one of the last places one would expect to have a fire — the Blissfield Township Fire Department.
Firefighters were dispatched to the scene of the structure fire at about 6:30 a.m. after an off-duty Deerfield firefighter drove past the building and noticed smoke.
According to Blissfield Township Fire Chief Dale Fruchey, firefighters saw flames showing from the building upon arrival. He said the cause of the fire had not been determined.
Blissfield firefighters were quickly joined by units from the Palmyra, Riga, Madison, Deerfield and Raisin township fire departments and command was assumed by Palmyra Township Fire Chief Paul Rohlan who was the first chief to arrive on the scene. Fruchey was out of town for a cattle auction but arrived at the department a few hours later.
Rohlan coordinated the departments that fought the flames for an hour until it was put down.
Three firefighters were taken to a hospital, two to be treated for heavy smoke inhalation and one with a slight burn on his arm.
Fruchey said from what he heard, the firefighters were OK but he said he was planning to visit them at the hospital after leaving the scene.
The fire severely damaged the firehouse, especially the engine bays that housed two ambulances, a ladder truck, a pumper, a fire engine and a brush truck.
One ambulance was a total loss, while the rest appeared to have heat and smoke damage, Fruchey said. By noon, two of the five vehicles with smoke damage were cleared for service and transported to neighboring departments to be cleaned.
"Everybody is wanting to help us out as far as washing them up, getting them cleaned back up," Fruchey said.
Putting the ladder truck back into service would take longer, because it needed to be recertified because of the heavier damage it sustained.
At about 11:30 a.m., firefighters were still working at the scene.
"Right now we're still trying to make sure all the hot spots are out. We still have a couple places up inside the attic that we're chasing right now," Fruchey said. "Just checking that out and then we'll be looking at boarding the place up and trying to start rebuilding."
Fruchey said neighboring departments were already helping take calls on Blissfield's behalf.
"We will be taking care of the town no matter what," Fruchey said. "We want to make sure everybody is safe, but our neighboring departments will be helping us out at this time."
As a paid-on-call fire department, there was nobody on duty at the time the fire started.
"Half the building is unservable at this time," Blissfield Township Supervisor Al Navarro said. "We contacted the insurance company already and they've told us, 'Board up the building and we'll stand behind you 100 percent. Let us know what's going on and keep us informed and just do what you got to do to get everything going again.' "
According to Navarro's recollection, the building was built in 1995 for what he recalled to be $900,000.
"You don't expect your fire department to burn down, let's put it that way," Navarro said jokingly about his morning, adding that he thanked Rohlan for the job he did coordinating the departments to put out the fire.
The Lenawee County Sheriff's Office sent its mobile command vehicle to serve as the department's temporary radio communications center. It, along with the department's remaining vehicles and equipment, will be temporarily kept at Crop Production Services, which offered the department the use of one of its buildings.
The firefighters were assisted at the scene by Blissfield police, Michigan State Police, Lenawee County sheriff's deputies, the Michigan Department of Transportation and Consumers Energy.
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