As warehouses continue to pop up in western Hancock County, local fire departments are sounding the alarm. The firefighter’s union said they simply don’t have the staff to fight fires at those massive buildings.
At 2.2 million square feet, a brand-new Walmart distribution center in western Hancock County is the largest in the world. It’s nearly twice the size of the Walmart warehouse in Plainfield that went up in flames in March of last year.
However, if something like that happened in Hancock County, fire officials say it’d be even worse.
“If this building was to catch on fire, the whole county combined, including our paid departments and our volunteer departments — we do not have enough to even do half the response of the Plainfield fire,” Tony Bratcher, who serves as the president of Hancock County Firefighters Local 4787, said.