INDIANAPOLIS — A man died in a house fire on Indianapolis' northwest side Tuesday morning, fire officials said.
Fire crews responded to a home near the intersection of King Avenue and West 61st Street, west of Michigan Road, around 2 a.m. for a report of a fire.
An IFD spokesperson said an older man, who fire officials said lived alone at the house, was found.
There were no signs of foul play.
The man's identity has not been released. A cause of death has not been determined.
A large number of items were discovered inside the house that may have contributed to the fire, officials said.
Crews worked for over an hour to knock down the fire. There were no fire hydrants in the area, complicating that effort.
Since the house was in an “unhydranted" area, firefighters had to create their own water supply using a labor-intensive process of setting up a tanker operation.
According to Citizens Energy Group, the area doesn’t have fire hydrants because there are no water mains.
“While relatively uncommon in Marion County, there are indeed still pockets of homes/neighborhoods without central water service, due to the decision to install wells at the time of original construction,” said Benjamin Easley, a spokesperson from Citizens Energy Group.
Historically, developers would make the decision on whether to connect the neighborhood to the central water utility and would be responsible for the cost. If not, the homeowner had the option to make the switch and pay afterward. Either way, the developer or homeowner would need to work directly with the utility to make the connection.
“In areas of new construction where a water main already exists, current building standards require homes to be connected and fire hydrants to be included in the development plans,” Easley said.
Neighbors in the area said they are shocked nothing has changed over the decades, especially living in such an urban area.
“It’s a pretty big neighborhood not to have fire hydrants or any kind of water,” said Richard Maclean.
To switch over, Citizens Energy Group said neighbors would have to contact them to determine a plan and a cost. That price is based on several different factors and is on a case-by-case basis.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated to remove references to a possible cause of death and the location in the home where the man was found after an update from the Indianapolis Fire Department.
