Northwest Indiana Discussion

WJOB is reporting a BIG fire in that complex. Basically across the street from Wal*Mart. Jupiter Aluminum's main building is lost, others damaged. Smoke everywhere. Water is not curtailing it so far but HFD is keeping it from spreading farther.

Both Hammond mayor McDermot & Fire Chief Hamm are on scene.

Fowler is reporting live right now in studio and has assumed his old chair for today.

Fire began about 5:46 AM when HFD got the call. Obviously traffic on 165th is being re-routed, but shoppers at Wal*Mart & Home Depot remain unmoved. Gotta get those bargains!

Hammond has deployed all but 3 fire units from the entire city. EC is lending assistance.

According to the chicago TV stations, Jupiter Aluminum is where the
fire has occurred. Videos from their helicopters are showing huge flames leaping out of the building.

Same place.

I guess WJOB's news dept has really gone downhill. They have a major fire and have to call in some commisioner guy from the HSD to anchor the coverage.

Actually, Dedlow gave everybody the day off and Fowler is just pitchin' in.

I just got back from the fire, and I was able to film 10 minutes of it; the battery ran low. I was standing right across the street from it, right in from of Home Depot, a GREAT, clear view, and the filming came out GREAT! GREAT COLOR! I called WJOB and told them(Fowler & DeDe) that I now have some, smokey memories! Smok'in!

I saw this story on FoxNews this morn. Must be a slow newsday.

hey express...should have given me your on line name lol

it was very bad looking early on. credit to the fire dept for keeping it under control. our old buddy ffscott was all over the radio directing fire traffic. another board member who swore me off from giving her attributable credit for her effort was bringing coffee to all the public employees on the scene.

i think this incident today really shows that the people on these boards are among the most active, passionate, and supportive residents in the area.

as for the fire, the main building...described by some as mill #1 and others as main plant is a total loss. an adjacent building also caught but the fire was contained within that. thankfully the production furnaces which are almost impossible to rebuild in a short time were saved.

it will take maybe a 6-9 months before the facility is able to be completly repaired as it is...but if the furnaces were lost...it may have never been repaired. certainly my heart goes out to employees who may be looking at some lay offs while the repairs are undertaken.

as for how i got involved. well i saw the tv shots and thought maybe i could help get the word out if evacuations were needed so i went over there. thankfully the smoke wasnt toxic...and it wasnt going into any residential areas.

i basically wound up hanging out with the civil defense and police outside of the plants main gate by walmart and listened to the radio and helped with the flow of information.

jed showed up around 730 and asked for info and i pretty much said hell, it be easier if i just went on with you. i sucked today...out of practice i guess but i hope at least the info helped ease peoples concerns.

and again...the most important thing today...as of 10 am NO INJURIES! lets pray that remains the case.

Kudos to those who brought coffee and donuts and to WalMart for bringing in cases of water and assortment of snacks.

Well, I think you did a great job here on the board

i sucked today...out of practice i guess but i hope at least the info helped ease peoples concerns.

Says who?

You haven't made so much sense on air in years! lol

And you didn't even pick a fight with Freetime. At least it kinda sounded like Freetime. Had a whole polite conversation and everything.

Wow, what a day for hfd. Five garage fires in 4700 block of Cameron, one burnt to the ground along with three vehicles. Minor damage too other garages and one home. Stop work orders on two of the properties.

Kudos to East Chicago and Calumet City fire departments. East Chicago for their help at Jupiter Aluminum and Calumet City for offering too assist if needed for other fires in Hammond.

Another great job by hfd. Maybe we can shut down a couple of stations after all. We’ll just depend upon East Chicago and Calumet City to fight our fires.

A few of Cal City's rigs were actually stationed in Hammond for a few hours last night. I know it looked wierd to see one of their ambulances rolling out of the main station on Calumet yesterday. I also heard a few rigs had to go back to Jupiter late Friday night because some guard saw some flames flickering on the roof.

HFD was called out at 11:00 pm and again about 3:am. for little flare ups.

Walked the area today and it is a mess. Much damage, some great photos that everyone will have an opportunity to see.

Yes, kudos are in order for East Chicago AGAIN. Thanks for helping HFD in yesterday fire; and for helping Highland during the flood! Let's all thank the Mayor, Mr. Pabey, and the city for coming to assist people in need all over LC! Kudos to EC! This would have NEVER have happen under Pastrick, the weasel!

At the time of the fire, I was standing in front of Home Depot, and got over 10 minutes of film...........looks GREAT on big, screen TV! Great color too!