SULLIVAN, Ind. — An Indiana ambulance service caught on fire and destroyed three ambulances Thursday morning.
TribStar.com reported the fire at the Sullivan County Ambulance service was discovered by an EMT who had just arrived at the station for a shift change.
“When I opened the door it was just full of thick, thick smoke and I could hear fire cackling, but I couldn’t see anything,” Jason Riggle told WHITV.com.
The building had two employees inside when the fire started, but both were able to escape unharmed.
“It appears the fire started in the ambulance bay area, and that area does have vehicles in it. But it is too early to determine whether it was a vehicle or equipment in the garage or something else that started the fire,” said Sullivan County Sheriff Clark Cottom.
The fire was mostly contained to the station’s garage area. With the loss of three ambulances, the county now only has two operational ambulances. The county will use ambulances from nearby departments to cover the loss.
“Obviously this will tap resources in the county by losing the ambulance headquarters and three ambulances, which are very busy and also provide non-emergency transport to the Sullivan County Hospital,” said Cottom. “It will take many months to recover from this loss. We are very fortunate that this occurred at shift change and no staff members were injured.”