A mother of nine children called 911 shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday to report that her home was on fire in the 2900 block of East U.S. 52. The emergency call resulted in volunteer firefighters from Glenwood being dispatched to the home of Sunshine Peterson west of New Salem.

One of the first to arrive on the scene was Glenwood firefighter Eric Lower. He immediately requested mutual aid from the Rushville Fire Department and that volunteers from Rushville Township Fire Department be dispatched to the scene.

Glenwood fire chief Dale Munson said the use of working smoke detectors may have saved the lives of Peterson, her husband and the children in the home.

“The mother heard the smoke detector going off and as she called 911 the dad got the nine children out of the house. This goes to show that working smoke detectors do make a difference,” Munson said.

Rushville fire chief Chuck Jenkins said trucks from Rushville were the first to arrive on the scene at 2936 East U.S. 52 and immediately began to battle the fire.

“We were called out to provide mutual aid. Capt. Kevin Spillman and others from the RFD were the first trucks to arrive,” Jenkins said.

The elements were not kind to responders, with early morning temperatures hovering near single digits. The actual temperature was impacted by 30 mph wind gusts, putting the wind chill below zero.

Responders were relieved to find that the occupants of the home were uninjured and had vacated the residence prior to their arrival.

Firefighters quickly contained and extinguished the blaze.

“We had it knocked down in 15 to 20 minutes and before it got too far inside the residence,” Lower said.

The majority of the fire was contained to a closed-in front porch of the residence and the front external wall of the two-story farm home.

Firefighters remained on the scene until nearly 6 a.m. checking for hot spots and making sure the fire was completely extinguished.

Although the investigation is ongoing at this time, initial indications are that the fire was electrical in nature and was the result of old wiring in the home.

Assisting at the scene were units form the GVFD, RFD, RTVFD, RMH Ambulance, the Rush County Sheriff’s Department, Duke Energy and vehicles from the Indiana State Highway Department.