Units arrived to find two vehicles involved with a single driver in each car and both were pinned. It took units approximately 10 minutes to extricate both victims from each vehicle. No other passengers were found in the cars.

One victim was transported in serious condition while the other was in critical.

The Churubusco Fire Department & Whitley County EMS system sends our sincere condolences and heartfelt prayers to the family of Cameron Amber who perished in the accident.

The Amber family has been involved in the emergency system of Whitley County for decades and there is no greater pain for our family than to see the tragic death of one of our own.

Our thoughts, prayers and condolences are with you today, tomorrow and forever.

First arriving police units immediately requested Rohrers towing service to respond because the victim was partially pinned beneath the vehicle. Paramedics on the scene then requested Samaritan fly to the scene. Within minutes of take off the helicopter had to cancel their own flight due to snow conditions.

Due to low personnel availability Chief Bennett requested that assistance from Union Twp. fire department be called and were later disregarded.

It took approximately 20 minutes for crews to extricate the victim who was in critical condition and minutes later died at the scene.

The driver and a passenger were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

Fire Chief Roger Bennett was first on the scene of the single vehicle accident and found a single person had been ejected from her car. The Samaritan helicopter was called in to fly the victim to an area hospital, but she had sustained too many injuries and was pronounced at the scene.

The following morning, almost exactly 24-hours later, Churubusco units were called to U.S. 33 just south of Carroll for a personal injury accident with a vehicle on fire. The location of the accident actually ended up at U.S. 33 & Chase Road. Both parties involved sustained minor injuries, even though one subject had to be extricated because his doors had jammed upon impact.

Friday afternoon continued the spree of accidents on U.S. 33 when units were called to Hildebrand Rd for another rollover accident with minor injuries. While on the scne of that incident, reports came in of another accident just north of their scene. It was soon discovered this was nothing more than a minor accident with no injuries.

By now the fire department had been called to four accidents in four days and just after midnight Saturday, rescue crews were dispatched to U.S. 33 & Carroll Rd again for a rollover accident with injuries.

Further information obtained by emergency dispatchers found that the actual location of the accident was on 150 North just west of the Allen/Whitley county lines near the Eel River golf course.

The passenger of that accident was transported to an area hospital for his injuries and the driver refused treatment

The fire department stayed quite busy Tuesday afternoon and evening by starting the day with a “typical” medical run and later in the afternoon a fatal car wreck on S.R. 205.

Fatal Accident

At approximately 2:00 p.m. a vehicle traveling northbound on S.R. 205 lost control of their vehicle and over corrected causing them to roll the vehicle several times ejecting one female passenger.

Police and medic units arrived on the scene and found the woman was deceased, while the driver was complaining of some minor aches and pains.

Fully Engulfed House Fire

Churubusco, Arcola and Washington Twp. fire units were called to the 8500 block of Butt Rd. in Allen County at approximately 20:30.

Arcola command were the first to arrive on the scene advsing they had a small house fully engulfed and have all units continue. Churubusco responded half of their fleet only to return one of them fairly early into the incident because of a smoke alarm sounding in town.

A small crew still left at the station from the house fire responded to the smoke alarm and found nothing to indicate an actual fire and it’s believed the alarms were sounding because of burnt food on the stove earlier in the evening

Whitley County EMS personnel pronounced the operator of the tractor deceased after arrival.

Smith Township Fire/Rescue units remained on scene to help the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department and Whitley County Coroner in extricating the operator from the tractor.

Approximately 2 hours later, Arcola fire units were sent to U.S. 33 between O’Day and Johnson Road’s reference a head-on collision. Fire 201 from Churubusco happened to be on U.S. and nearby and responded. He arrived to find a pickup truck had collided head-on with a small passenger car.

Due to the nature of the incident, Fire 201 advised Arcola’s chief that he might want to get another rescue unit responding. Churubusco firefighters were now on their way to the second critical accident in two hours.

A female from the pickup truck appeared to be ejected onto the hood of the truck, but it was later discovered she crawled onto the hood. A male in the passenger car was pronounced dead at the scene.

At the moment of the crash, the female’s pickup somehow rode up on a guard railing along the edge of the road and firefighters had to battle an unstable vehicle for a minute to ensure she was stabilized. From there paramedics and firefighters climbed to her via step ladders, balancing on the guard rail or sitting atop the roof of the truck. She was transported to an area hospital in critical condition also via Samaritan helicopter.

Noble Twp. Fire Chief, Rob Davis, arrived on scene and the two-story home was already well involved and help was called for from Albion and Thorncreek Fire Departments.

According to police, 73 year-old Ralph Wiedman may have been overcome by smoke after he re-entered his home to retrieve keys to a pair of antique vehicles.

Chief Davis and Sheriff’s deputies tried to gain entry through the front door calling repeatedly for Wiedman but were turned away by smoke. The fire spread quickly through the home collapsing the first and second story roofs.

The Cromwell and Churubusco Departments were dispatched at 3:30 a.m. to provide manpower at the scene. The Engine crew from Churubusco was assigned to do a secondary search of the first floor. Minutes after their entry they located Wiedman in a living room at the front of the house, but it was too late.

Wiedman’s wife told authorities she had been roused by a barking dog and heard a smoke detector going off. She got her husband up and they left the residence calling emergency responders.

Shortly after, Mr. Wiedman re-entered the home and was unable to make it out.

Firefighters were able to battle the blaze on the first floor from inside but were cut off from the second story after the roof collapsed. Ground ladders were used from the exterior of the home to reach the second story blaze and bring the fire under control. Departments from Columbia Twp. and Kendallville were called to the scene with manpower to rotate crews as they battled cold temperatures as well.

The State Fire Marshal’s office ruled the fire accidental. A space heater at the rear of the home was the cause of the fire, igniting a carpet on fire. Churubusco firefighters remained on the scene dousing hot spots until they were released by Noble Twp. at 7:30 a.m.

The incident was investigated by the Noble County Sheriff’s Department, Noble County Coroner’s Office and the State Fire Marshal.

*Photo and story contributed by Churubusco News

Captain Wayne Krider arrived to find the dump truck loaded with gravel laying on top of an SUV and requested immediate assistance from Thorncreek Township. It was discovered that the female was heavily pinned and at least in critical condition at which time he requested the Samaritan helicopter fly. Medics arrived to assist and pronounced the female dead on arrival.

Churubusco and Thorncreek units arrived nearly simultaneously and began digging away at the gravel piled inside the SUV to ensure no other victims were buried. No one was found and units stood back to wait for police units and re constructionists.

Churubusco units cleared the scene around 6:00 P.M.