04/07/2026
Around 6pm yesterday fire crews from Chester Township were dispatched to a tractor on fire inside of a building close to a residence. First arriving crews found heavy fire and got water going to save the home. Mutual aid was requested from numerous departments which will be listed below.
Due to the building being constructed of all steel, the structure itself had almost no fire load, but inside were numerous pieces of farm equipment that fed the flames. The building quickly collapsed and made it very difficult to get water on the fire. The decision was made to call for an excavator, huge thanks the Andy Bolinger and his crew for that. Fire crews were finally able to return to station a little after midnight.
To the community: We understand that when flashing lights or smoke are seen sometimes you can't help but drive near just to see what is going on and maybe lend a helping hand, but please give our guys some space on these narrow county roads. Your Chrysler Town and Country mini van with its ultra bright headlights adds nothing but difficulty to our response. The safety issues that civilian traffic creates for us add nothing but more stress for our guys during an already stressful situation. We had numerous vehicles in the way and way to much pedestrian traffic wearing very low visibility clothing. Someone could've been easily hurt, thankfully that didn't happen. Please keep that in mind next time your nose bothers you and wants you to drive near an emergency to "check it out".
Thoughts and prayers for the family involved as farm equipment is not easily replaced, but thankful that the home suffered only a little siding wrinkle from some heat and no one was hurt.
Thank you to:
North Manchester Fire Department
Pleasant Twp. Fireman’s Assoc.
Sidney Fire/Rescue Department (K County)
Cleveland Township Fire (Whitley County)
Wabash County EMA
And possibly some others I may not know about
