In less than 24 hours, the Greenwood community came together to make sure two families affected by a house fire could salvage their Christmas.
Fresh off a call to Greenwood Park Mall after shots were fired in the parking lot, area police and firefighters rushed to the house fire at a duplex home in the 0 block of W. Main St. on the busy, bitterly cold night of Dec. 23. After the fire the community also sprang into action, a call out from Fire Angels, Inc. yielded an “overwhelming” amount of donations to make sure the families still had something to look forward to on Christmas.
The fire
Just before 8 p.m. Greenwood Fire Chief Darin Hoggatt was the first on the scene, and could see dark smoke coming from the home, he said.
“I was coming back to headquarters from the previous run that we were on at the mall, and I saw the smoke blowing across the road,” Hoggatt said.
In a matter of minutes, six fire engines, three ladder trucks and two medic units from Greenwood, Bargersville and White River Township fire departments were on the scene. The two families, both with children, were able to get out on their own without significant injuries, he said.
The fire, which is believed to have started in the attic, was brought under control within 40 minutes. However, it was a challenging fire to fight, Hoggatt said.
Firefighters had to use a special device to pump large amounts of water from a distance early on to fight the fire because the fire spread very quickly. Also, due to the extremely cold temperatures that day, the closest hydrant to the house was frozen, and they had to find an alternative water source, Hoggatt said.
“It’s something that just does not happen on a normal basis,” he said.
One firefighter received minor burns due to the heat. Another was injured when they fell down a narrow staircase. Both of these injuries were minor, and the firefighters are recovering, Hoggatt said.
Fire fallout
When Fire Angels president and chairperson Brittany Painter and her scene-partner first arrived at the home last week, they didn’t know all the details of what happened. Fire Angels is a local nonprofit that provides necessities for those affected by house fires.
The nonprofit usually uses Carriage Cleaners, a restoration company, to help with emergency laundry needs for the families affected. Once a fire is put out, clothing items are typically salvaged for restoration so the family won’t have to replace all of their clothing, Painter said.
This was not the case that night as everything that wasn’t burnt was flash-frozen by the negative temperatures. Since the fire was the night before Christmas Eve, every company Fire Angels would normally use for clothing restoration was closed, Painter said.
A few hours after the fire, Fire Angels posted a call-out on their Facebook page for donations, encouraging people to drop them off at Greenwood Fire Station 91, located a few blocks away from the fire. The call-out was quickly shared at least 150 times by members of the community, the Greenwood Fire Department and other organizations.
“Tomorrow is Christmas, a time we should be at home with our loved ones,” the post read. “The reality is these families are displaced, having lost everything. So let’s do what we can to give joy.”
‘Overwhelming’ donations
Donations quickly came in for the families, and within 24 hours, more than two rooms at Station 91 were completely full of donations, Painter said.
“Honestly, I didn’t know how much help we would get help for them,” Painter said.
Painter says the fire department was very generous to allow people to donate at the firehouse. The fire department normally accepts donations at their administration building, but due to the timing of the fire, donations were accepted at Station 91, Hoggatt said.
“It was an overwhelming response,” he said. “It was very quick and just amazing that everybody came together to prop up those families at Christmas time.”
Greenwood Police also stepped up to offer aid. At least half-a-dozen officers when shopping at the Greenwood Target on the night of the fire to make sure the families had what they immediately needed.
“It was good for the firefighters and the officers to see what can be done in a short amount of time when people come and work together,” Hoggatt said.
On Christmas Eve, members of Fire Angels sorted through the donated items and gave the families the clothing they needed. The families were “overwhelmed” by the number of donations, and later came to the station to look through the clothes themselves, Painter said.
“The families only took what they knew they could wear,” she said. “It would take 5 to 6 trips for us to bring them all the clothes.”
The amount of community support for the families has been both amazing and overwhelming, Painter said. In the aftermath of the fire, Fire Angels put the families up in hotels, and one member of the community met Painter at a hotel and gave her $1,000 and a stack of gift cards to help the families, she said.
“We had already gotten many donations for the families, so we used gift cards to get them things they didn’t get (through donations). It was absolutely amazing,” Painter said.
Future needs
Since the fire, one family has found another place to live and is trying to get moved in. The other family is still looking for a new home within their price range, Painter said.
Fire Angels posted a follow-up call out looking for rental homes for the second family, but higher rents have made the search challenging. The family does have a possible home they could move into, but it’s just a matter of if their insurance will help with the costs, she said.
The families do not need any more clothing donations as of right now. However, monetary or furniture donations are still being accepted, Painter said.
Nearly a week after the fire, members of the community are still offering financial support, she said.
“I’ve known this is a really great community, but the amount of support the community has shown for the families is overwhelming for all of us,” Painter said.
Those interested in making donations to the families can contact Painter at 765-318-1708 or [email protected]. The donations that can’t be used for the families will be saved for future families affected by house fires or donated to charities for those in need, she said.
“I can set it up for them, or I can ask them if this is something they are needing,” Painter said.
