City councilman's house burns in massive blaze that shutters downtown Whiting, damages four buildings (2024)

WHITING — A massive blaze burned down a city councilman's 19th century Craftsman-style home and spread to a neighboring home and two neighbors' garages, sending up a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles around and shutting down downtown Whiting for hours.

Several fire departments battled the blaze in a house at 1824 Oliver St., at Oliver and 119th streets, as it spread to neighboring homes across the street from Whiting High School. The fire raged in a tightly packed residential neighborhood near the Whiting Middle School and Whiting Public Library.

"The fire was found in the rear of the garage. It was fully engulfed," Fire Chief Don Harbin said. "The fire spread to the second floor and went through the roof."

A man whom neighbors and witnesses said had been working on a car in the garage was injured by the fire and was taken to St. Catherine Hospital in neighboring East Chicago, Harbin said.

Councilman Shawn Turpin, the owner of the house, was unharmed.

"I'm just in shock. I'm in total shock," he said. "I'm just thankful for the Whiting, Hammond and East Chicago fire departments."

His family and dog are OK, but he was devastated while standing across the street watching his house smoke as aerial trucks sprayed so much water into it that a waterfall cascaded down his front steps.

"The house has been in my family for three generations," he said.

The state fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, Harbin said.

"The wind and proximity made it spread," he said.

The home appears to be a total loss, but the neighboring Victorian house to which the fire spread suffered minor damage and should be salvageable, Harbin said.

Turpin and his neighbor Anthony Novak, who were both displaced by the fire, said they had family in the area and would have somewhere to stay.

"They say it's pretty bad inside," Novak said. "They ran two hoses in there and I think it was going up to the attic."

He called 911 when he saw his neighbor's garage burning, and initially tried to fight it with a garden hose.

"911 is telling me the fire trucks are on their way, so I figured I'd let them deal with it," he said.

He made sure his wife got out of the house and saved their three dogs: Muggsy, Elliott and Waylo. He grabbed them, got them to safety and put them in the car.

"It spread pretty quickly. It jumped to his house in two to three minutes," Novak said. "Then it started spreading in probably four minutes, jumping to the corner of mine. My outside and back got it bad. These are all old houses and they're close together. Back in the day this was called millionaires' row. All the big shots from the Standard Oil refinery lived here."

He wished he could get into his house to be able to check on his things, including his wallet, car keys and insurance papers. But he tried to take a stoic attitude.

"This has never really happened to me," Novak said. "What do you do? You just deal with it and go on. Fortunately, I had insurance. I'm hoping we get to stay in the house. I like the house. I like the area. We came so my son could come to school here back in 2007. It's nice, just six homes down from 119th Street."

He tried to put the at least temporary loss of his water-logged and smoke-damaged home into perspective.

"It's always someone else. It never happens to me. It's always someone else," he said. "With all that's going on in the world— the wars, the hurricanes, the floods and stuff— you just deal with it. We could have been in there at 3 a.m. and died in our sleep, burned to death. It could have happened in the middle of winter. If I had to have a bad situation, this is the perfect scenario for a bad situation. It's the best of a bad situation."

Neighbor Debbie Bercik said it was nerve-wracking to watch her neighbors' houses burn.

"I was very nervous, especially seeing how violent the fire was. The black smoke was so high," she said.

She had just gotten her dogs back from a walk and was texting someone on her porch when she saw her neighbor's house was on fire.

"There were flames so close to my house," she said.

Dozens of people gathered across the street by Whiting High School just outside the crime tape to watch firefighters battle the blaze. They blasted it with several hoses, including from two aerial trucks.

Miguel Gaiton, a Hammond Central student, was headed to a dentist appointment nearby. He said the thick billowing black smoke was so high his mom thought it was from the BP Whiting Refinery.

"You could see it for miles and miles away," he said. "It was black, dark smoke."

Donna Cafferata rushed over because her friend's house was burning. She called her, letting her know she needed to come back from work in Illinois to get her dog out.

"She's alright. So's her pet," she said. "She was able to get her dog out. They did not have to break in. They were worried about smoke inhalation."

Cafferata was one of the first to arrive on the scene. She said the dog of the man who was working on the car in the garage and had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital also suffered burns on his paws and hind legs in the fire.

"The dog was injured. Another resident chased him on his bike and got him at the boulevard and brought him back," she said. "I don't know how badly the dog was burned. It was a gentleman from Robertsdale who was on his bike. He jumped onto his bike because nobody was able to get it by its leash. He chased it all the way down 119th Street to Schrage to the boulevard before he was able to bring it back. There's a good community of people here who look out for the animals."

Much of 119th Street was shut down to passing traffic while firefighters fought the fire. Most nearby storefronts were closed, though some businesses like Beggars Pizza and Center Lounge soldiered on.

"There's helicopters buzzing overhead and there's a lot of smoke," saidJoel Bender, who owns Mindbenders Puzzles & Games a few blocks away.

Whiting Mayor Steve Spebar said the lakefront city was thankful for the assistance it got from neighboring fire departments in Hammond, East Chicago and Munster."

"We're thankful for the quick work the firemen did in putting this out. It was a large fire," he said.

The city will try to get the displaced residents help, Spebar said.

"The fire chief will be in touch with North Township and the American Red Cross and the food pantry," Spebar said. "We'll get them all the help that we can."