One confirmed dead in Noble County fire

NOBLE COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - One person died in a large house fire in Noble County on Monday morning, according to Avilla Fire Chief John Brazzell.

County coroner Joan Cripe said she presumed the victim to be the only resident of the home located at 2606 N 600 E.  She requested anyone with information about next of kin for John Trenka, 63, to contact her office at (260) 894-1634.

Emergency officials got the call around 3:30 a.m. when a passerby noticed the home was on fire. Fire officials believe the home was in flames for about 20 minutes before the call came in. Brazzell said the flames could be seen from three miles away.

When crews arrived on scene, the house was fully involved in flames. There was also ammunition going off and a propane tank had exploded.

A gate to the property was locked and crews waited for the ammunition rounds to stop as they worked to cut the lock and gain access to the property. 

It took fire crews from Albion, Avilla, Kendallville and Laotto two hours to get the fire under control.  The home was considered a total loss.

"You can’t tell there was a house there, basically. It’s just rubble and then there’s quite of a bit of the house is in the basement," Brazzell described.  "The basement is full of water due to all water we used.  We probably  pumped about 40,000 gallons of water into the structure throughout the night. It’s basically all the way up to the level of the basement full of water. It looks like a swimming pool."

According to the fire chief, the cause of the fire may never be determined because of the amount of damage sustained.