Farmer injured as equipment burns
Farmer injured as equipment burns
21 May 2009
published by online.indianagazette.com
USA –Fire destroyed a corn-planting implement and damaged a tractor Wednesday afternoon on a farm near Iselin.
The farmer was injured while he rushed to retrieve a fire extinguisher from his barn, a fire official said.
John Bosch was treated and released from Indiana Regional Medical Center, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
The fire about 1:30 p.m. began while Bosch was preparing to sow a field with corn and fertilizer, said Bob Sosnick, a captain of the Iselin Volunteer Fire Department.
Bosch was burning the fertilizer bags after emptying them into the planter, Sosnick said, and the fire jumped to the machinery.
The farm at 2503 Phillips Road is owned by Joe Bosch, John’s brother, Sosnick said.
“John went over the hill to get a fire extinguisher from the barn and on the way back, he wrecked his four-wheeler in the field,” Sosnick said. “At first he didn’t want medical treatment, but he agreed to go to the hospital. He was skinned and scraped up a bit.”
LifeStat Ambulance service and the Saltsburg fire department also responded to the alarm.
The ruined planter was valued at about $20,000 and the tractor sustained damage to some hoses. The fire was confined to the equipment and nearby ground, but didn’t spread as several other outdoor fires did Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Indiana County, according to the Emergency Management Agency’s 911 center:
n Volunteers from three fire departments and the state Bureau of Forestry worked four hours Wednesday extinguish a brush fire at 161 Creek Road, Washington Township.
Flames jumped from a small pile of garbage to a large heap of cut trees and vegetation, a fire official said.
The fire blackened about 4 acres of ground that the property owner, Larry Orr, had cleared for gas-well drilling, said Creekside Fire Chief Pete Yacovone.
Indiana County dispatchers at 12:41 p.m. sent the Elderton and Plumville fire companies to assist. Still, the effort was drawn out because of a shortage of manpower, Yacovone said.
No one was injured and no buildings were endangered, he said.
n Saltsburg and Tunnelton-Conemaugh Township firefighters were sent at 11:41 a.m. to check a report of utility line down on Clarksburg Road.
n The Blairsville fire department responded to a traffic accident reported at 12:57 p.m. on North Walnut Street.
n At 4:03 p.m., the Elderton and Indiana fire companies were sent to put out a fire in some pine trees at 101 Yellow Bird Drive in the Pine Tree Mobile Home Park. The call for Indiana’s Co. 4 was canceled.
n Indiana’s Companies 1 and 2 responded at 4:21 to a report of a brush fire along Miller Avenue near Northview Estates in White Township.
n Dispatchers sent the Armagh & East Wheatfield Township and Clyde fire companies to put out a fire that burned some brush and a vehicle at 6:12 p.m. at 1170 Stutzman Road.
n The Coal Run fire company responded at 9:19 p.m. to a brush fire along Fourth Street in Coal Run.
n Marion Center firefighters responded to an unknown fire at 11:48 p.m. at Routes 119 and 85 in Rayne Township and discovered a controlled burn of rubbish, according to dispatchers.
n The Cherry Tree fire department was sent to put out a brush fire at 11:56 p.m. along Wilson Lane year Route 580 in Green Township.
n Indiana Fire Co. 3 responded at 1:08 a.m. today to a report of a brush fire along Elkin Avenue, White Township. A fire official said the fire was under control by a resident.
