ELIZABETHTOWN — A fire that destroyed a vacant home near Elizabethtown early Tuesday morning later rekindled, causing a second trip to the home for firefighters.
Investigators said the fire was reported at 3:10 a.m. Tuesday at a one-story single-family home at 12799 E. County Road 200S owned by Barry Lamborn.
The 1,500-square-foot house was fully engulfed in flames when Elizabethtown and Columbus Township firefighters arrived, assisted by Clay Township and Wayne Township firefighters. It took until about 5:30 a.m. to extinguish the flames, said Todd Noblitt, Bartholomew County E-911 director.
The fire rekindled at 8:20 a.m. and Elizabethtown firefighters, assisted by the other departments, cleared the rekindled fire at 10:43 a.m., Noblitt said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but firefighters were told that Lamborn, who is incarcerated in the Bartholomew County Jail, had evicted some squatters from the property recently, Columbus Township Fire Chief Dave Thompson said.
Lamborn, who has given 12799 E. County Road 200S as his legal address to Bartholomew Circuit Court, had a warrant issued for his arrest on Oct. 26 on a petition to revoke probation. Court records state the petition to revoke involved his probation for a conviction of battery resulting in moderate bodily injury in a domestic violence case.
Lamborn was sentenced March 29 to serve 730 days in jail, with credit for 97 days and 536 days suspended, court records state. Judge Kelly Benjamin ordered Lamborn on probation for 730 days for his sentence, according to court documents. A hearing on the violation of probation accusation is set for Jan. 14 in Bartholomew Circuit Court.
No injuries were reported at the fire scene even as firefighters worked in temperatures in the low- to mid-20s early this morning. Firefighters did haul water to the scene in tankers to put out the fire, Thompson said.
