Whiteland Fire Department faces unclear future after tornado
WHITELAND, Ind. (WISH) — Recent storms not only destroyed homes but also the Whiteland Fire Department station.
Firefighters say, while no one was inside the fire station at the time it was hit, there’s a long journey to recovery. No one in the Johnson County town was injured in the EF-3 tornado that hit Whiteland just after 11:30 p.m. March 31.
Luckily, the firefighters who were inside had left just minutes before the tornado hit and destroyed a large portion of their fire station.
Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser said Monday, “Week and a half ago, whatever it was, everything was in good shape so it’s really tough to see this,”
Funkhouser is facing a difficult task: the future for his fire department. “The amount of damage it’s unbelievable that no one was significantly hurt or killed in this area.”
“Once it got back here, it actually, as you can see inside, tore the roof off, collapsed the ceiling. These are the bunk rooms. This where the firefighters would have been sleeping.”
Although part of the building was not damaged, fire crews can’t function inside the building. “Since then, we’ve had other storms coming through with rain. We have no roof. We have nothing covering it at this time. There’s water damage throughout the station. There’s no way for us to operate out of it at this time.”
“Ultimately, it’s just a building. For us, the most upsetting thing would have been if people in the community would have gotten hurt.”
They’re now working out of the New Whiteland Fire Department. Although response times haven’t been impacted, firefighters are facing some challenges.
“When you put two full fire departments together into one space it’s going to be a little bit tighter, but we have a great working relationship with everybody around us, so it’s really worked out well,” Funkhouser said.
The fire chief says although they’re waiting for insurance adjusters to figure out the extent of the damage, ultimately they hope to stay in the neighborhood. Funkhouser says it may take a few weeks to determine if they can stay or look for a new site.