17 departments battle large pallet fire in west Indiana

WEST LEBANON — Personnel from Indiana and Illinois fire departments spent hours Tuesday containing a wind-whipped pallet blaze that broke out before noon in this Warren County town.

A controlled burn of pallets at Reynolds Wood Products, 405 N. High St., turned into an extensive fire, said John Goodrick, chief of the West Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department.

“It got out of hand because it is so windy,” he said.

The National Weather Service reports winds were gusting as high as 30 mph in Lafayette, about 30 miles away.

No injuries have been reported.

The fire, in an industrial area just north of West Lebanon and east of Ind. 263, spread throughout a field of pallets, sending smoke and flames high into the air and making it difficult at times for crews to get close to the blaze. Two buildings caught on fire early, but crews put them out before it spread.

A total of 17 fire departments were helping fight the blaze, including four from Illinois. Goodrick said a water main break in West Lebanon on Tuesday did not hamper efforts to get water to the fire.

Jim Lewis, deputy chief of the Wabash Township Fire Department near West Lafayette, estimated the fire was burning in a 100-by-200-yard area. Around 4 p.m., crews were starting to have success fighting the fire, he said. Crews were building a firestop with a bulldozer, which they hoped would limit the fire's ability to spread to the nearby industrial buildings and garages.

West Lebanon is about 70 miles northwest of Indianapolis and about 20 miles northeast of Danville, Ill.