No one injured in 'significant' southern Indiana house fire

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — No one was injured Saturday night after a house fire broke out in southern Indiana, taking firefighters nearly two hours to bring it under control.

Sgt. Ryan Houchen, a spokesperson for the Highlander Fire Protection District, said crews responded to a "significant" structure fire at 136 Lee Drive in Floyd Knobs.

According to Houchen, smoke alarms went off inside the garage of a home around 10:15 p.m.

Homeowners found flames when opening the garage door, quickly closed it and evacuated.

Houchen said heavy fire broke out and began spreading toward the house due to a connected breezeway. The couple's new Toyota Sienna hybrid vehicle was parked inside the garage. Family members said the car only has 10 miles on it, and the couple hasn't even made the first car payment on the vehicle.

"Hybrid vehicles are difficult to put out," Houchen said. "You have to use tens of thousands of gallons more than you would have to use on a room and contents on a house or a regular car fire just to cool the battery down. You're trying to stop the thermal runaway."

It took nearly two hours for the fire to be brought under control because the street had no hydrant.

"The water company has flush hydrants nearby, but they are not adequate for fighting fires," Houchen said.

No one was injured, but a firefighter was taken to the hospital due to exhaustion and is expected to recover.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s Fire Marshal is investigating the fire.

Tony Hommrich said his neighbor ran over to his house when the fire started.

"My neighbor had called on the phone. We were sitting watching a movie. Before I could answer the phone, he was already at the front door," Hommrich said. "I opened the door, and he said we got a problem next door. It's on fire. It was already engulfed. We stepped outside and saw flames coming out the roof. It was taking over the house."

Hommrich and his neighbor watched the fire burn together until firefighters from Floyd County Fire Territory and Highlander Fire Protection District got there.

"Hate to see anybody go through that, especially your friends," Hommrich said. "Some of the structure that burned through has fallen even more."

Hommrich said neighbors are talking about reaching out to the water company to see if more fire hydrants can be installed in the area. In the meantime, he made some immediate changes to his own home.

"I put in smoke detectors, three of them in the house. We've been talking about it for a while but put it on the back burner until now," he said.