A couple lost their home on Crooked Creek Road to a fire on Thanksgiving Day while they were down the road enjoying a meal with their family.
Arnold “Biggen” and Winnie “Dean” Stinson had just finished eating Thanksgiving dinner three doors down at their son Dennis and daughter-in-law Melissa Stinson’s home when the fire was discovered.
Melissa said Dennis had taken their grandson out on a four-wheeler ride and their grandson was the first to notice something on fire at his great-grandparents’ property.
The two turned around and went up to the house.
“At that point, Dennis saw the fire coming out from underneath the home and coming out the back part of the utility room,” Melissa said.
Dennis tried to turn the water on to fight the fire, but the electric line for the water had already been damaged.
“Living out where we live, there’s no saving without water. So, he sent my grandson down to the house and I called 911,” Melissa said.
The rest of the family then either drove or ran up to the home.
“If there was one thing good about it, we were all there with them as they watched their house burned. To have your granddaughters with you and your great-granddaughters with you, it’s never easy to take, because of the heartbreak of, ‘I don’t have my home anymore’ is horrendous. It was gone in about an hour,” Melissa said.
Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Kelp reported that “everything was already destroyed on our arrival.”
Firefighters used water from Lake Monroe at the boat ramp about a mile down the road to put out the flames.
It started in the utility room at the back of the home, but the exact cause is undetermined due to the amount of damage, Kelp said.
The fire was reported at about 3:45 p.m. and Nashville Fire arrived on scene at about 4:15 p.m., with Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department arriving about 10 minutes later, according to dispatch logs. Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department was also on scene within the hour.
“It’s a shame in this world that we do not have on-duty firemen. This is 2018 and we don’t have an on-duty fire department,” Melissa said.
“I think that it is gracious of those who do give of themselves to come out on Thanksgiving and fight a fire, but that’s not something we should be asking a human being to do. We should be employing those people.”
Biggen Stinson had torn apart the almost 100-year-old home in New Castle by hand before bringing it back to Brown County in pieces to put back together. “By hand — not with a nail gun; he did it on his own,” Melissa said.
“He was very proud of the fact they built that on their own. They built it as they got the funds to pay for it. They had no mortgage on it. They took care of the home.”
Their plans are to rebuild a home in the same spot. It had a yard full of hummingbirds, so the new home will have to include a front porch, Melissa said.
An account has been set up at Peoples State Bank under their proper names, Arnold and Winnie Stinson.
“It will help them with their expenses between now and then. They have insurance, but as everyone knows, it takes a little while to get insurance processed,” Melissa said.
Gift cards are also welcome. They can be sent to Arnold and Winnie Stinson or Biggen and Dean Stinson at 6007 Crooked Creek Road, Nashville, IN 47448.
Biggen is 88 and still works for Stinson Tree Service.
The couple will stay with Dennis and Melissa until their new home is built.
Local musician Bird Snider is organizing a fundraiser for the couple. Details on that event were not immediately available.
