It was about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night when multiple calls were placed to Greensburg’s Emergency 911 dispatchers, each expounding upon a working fire with smoke and flames ballooning out of the City Cafe, just south of the downtown square on Franklin Street.

The calls sent the Greensburg Fire Department, Decatur County EMS and the Greensburg Police Department rocketing through downtown, blocking off sections of streets and directing traffic around the area of the burning building.

According to Greensburg Fire Chief Scott Chasteen, the fire was centered in the City Cafe’s two upstairs apartments, which were the homes of two families. The building is owned by Steve Wenning.

When Chasteen arrived on the scene, Indiana State Police Tpr. Matt Haviland was already there, and Chasteen said he saw a heavy fire and smoke at the rear of the building. Upon encountering the inferno, Chasteen radioed for more help from nearby fire departments. The firefighters from the Letts Volunteer Fire

Department, the Adams Volunteer Fire Department and the Batesville Fire Department assisted at the scene, while each truck took a different position surrounding the building. Batesville’s Fire Department had a 100-foot aerial ladder, which Chasteen said he thought could be needed.

When firefighters entered the upstairs, they rushed to quell the flames. Numerous construction jobs and renovations to those upstairs apartments made fighting the fire more difficult, Chasteen

said.

On Tuesday night, Chasteen explained that no cause for the City Cafe fire had been identified. He had notified the office of the Indiana State Fire Marshal, who will likely launch a routine investigation into the cause of the conflagration, since the location was also a business.

Both of the apartments received heavy and substantial damage, Chasteen said. Fortunately, no one was injured, but Chasteen noted that the firefighters who went in to battle the blaze did “get warm” and were checked out by the Decatur County EMS paramedics. None of them had to be taken to the hospital.

Chasteen said that the fire departments would hold the scene until the investigation is complete. The neighboring Bourbon Street Pub was not damaged, Chasteen explained. The buildings did not have a wall that supported both of them, but firefighters were inside the Bourbon Street Pub, evacuating those inside and making sure there was no possibility of spreading the fire. Duke Energy, who had crews on the ground at the fire, re-energized Bourbon Street but not the City Cafe. Bourbon Street, like the City Cafe, is likely to remain closed until the fire departments feel they are safe following the conclusion of the investigation.

The initial investigation was launched only hours after the fire started, and Chasteen noted that about 50 to 60 firefighters in total were on the scene and at the station. Though no one was hurt, one of the occupants did lose a member of their family - a dog who perished in the fire.

Though there were multiple reports of the fire, Chasteen said it was possible the ISP Tpr. Matt Haviland could have been the first to call it in. When the fire departments arrived, a section of U.S. Highway 421 was temporarily closed to allow access to fire hydrants.

“I can’t thank everybody enough for their help,” Chasteen said of the crews that assisted him at the scene.

Representatives of the American Red Cross were on hand to help out the two displaced families. The Decatur County Sheriff’s Department also assisted during the City Cafe fire.