September 18^th, 2024

A massive fire broke out Tuesday night, July 10th, destroying a historic building in Decker, Indiana, and leaving the community heartbroken. The Johnson Volunteer Fire Department received the call around 7:40 p.m., and multiple bureaus fought the blaze for almost 7 hours. Firefighters used just about 250,000 gallons of water from two tankers to extinguish the flames in the three-story building. Crews remained on site until Wednesday morning to ensure all hotspots were extinguished.

This building was the Decker High School est—1967, which later served as an elementary school until 1999. Since 1999, they changed the building occupancy from a school to a sawmill. The loss of this historic building deeply saddened residents. Fortunately, they could prevent the flames from spreading to the gymnasium, which now houses Shouse Sawmill's wood shop. The main building and basement were deemed a total loss, and, in the end, they deemed all buildings unsafe. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Indiana State Fire Marshal's office. For now, the loss of the building continues as a painful reminder of history and memories that have been forever changed.

Risk Logic has extensive experience with Property Loss Prevention measures at sawmills. For more information on fire protection and prevention in sawmills, please click here or contact us. The owner plans on rebuilding the sawmill business and should consider proper prevention plans and automatic sprinklers to help prevent another fire such as this one. There are many ways to reduce or eliminate dust explosion hazards and potential occupancies like this one. Housekeeping is one of the top safety issues within sawmills.