VIDEO/PHOTO: At any hour of the day, firefighters jump into action to save lives and protect property once they get a call. During one recent overnight response, the Vine Grove Fire Department members drove up to their own station, engulfed in flames. “It’s one of those things you got 100,000 things that go through your head,” Fire Chief Matt Haddle said. “This was very difficult on the firefighters because they are the ones that are sitting there, having to battle equipment that they know is theirs.”
Fortunately, there is another station on the other side of the train tracks, so they were able to regroup and extinguish the flames. Haddle estimates the damage cost is about $1.5 million. He said a tanker truck, F-350 pickup, and the department’s Breast Cancer Awareness vehicle were also damaged. But the chief says there is one damaged item that cannot be replaced: a 1941 antique fire truck. Richard Peters sold the truck to the fire department about a decade ago. Peters told WHAS11 that he found the truck at a junkyard in 2007 and restored it.
“I said, ‘I got to have that. I got to restore this,’ because that’s too much history to be wasted,” he explained. The antique truck has many memories attached to it, including countless parades and important memorial services. “I can’t replace the history of the ’41,” Haddle said. Despite the destruction, Haddle said the other two Vine Grove stations can cover the area so that service will be unaffected. Other nearby fire departments have also offered assistance.
Haddle told WHAS11 that the State Fire Marshal’s office is still investigating the cause, but surveillance video leads him to believe a lightning strike sparked the flames.
