Make wishtv.com your home page

Clinton Co. fire department to rebuild after tornado

FOREST, Ind. (WISH) — Firefighters in northern Clinton County are trying to plan how they’ll rebuild after a tornado destroyed their firehouse.

It touched down Saturday near East County Road 600 North in Forest.

That’s about 30 miles northeast of Frankfort.

“There were two funnel clouds. They were going up and coming down constantly,” said Mike Tate the assistant chief for the Forest Volunteer Fire Department. “Things looked like they were clearing up, and it was going north. And somebody came on the radio and said the station’s been hit, so we [made] it back in here and this is what we found.”

The National Weather Service says the tornado touched down just before 9 p.m.

When Tate heard the sirens go off, he and others got all of the fire trucks out of the building and positioned them around the town. He says they do that in case there’s damage elsewhere.

Now the ones who do the helping, need help themselves.

“It’s kind of gut-wrenching to come in and see something like that,” said Tate.

The building was built in 1954.

The 95 mph winds with the EF-1 tornado has them looking for a new place to operate out of until they can rebuild.

“That’s been our problem trying to find some place where we can put them all close together. All the places that we could people have them rented out or full,” said Tate.

In the meantime, they say their service to the community will continue.

“We can still function as a fire department, we just don’t have a building to put them in,” said Tate.

They are accepting donations to help them rebuild.

Donations can be sent to: Forest Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 21 Forest, IN 46039

Never miss another Facebook post from WISH-TV