4-H Animals Perish in Mill Creek Barn Fire
Published: Friday, May 9, 2025
Nine farm animals a family kept for use in 4-H perished in a LaPorte County barn fire, but more could have died if not for police helping with the evacuation.
Larry Tuholski, one of the owners of the family farm along C.R. 100 South in Mill Creek, said five pigs and four goats were lost in the Sunday evening blaze.
The fire destroyed two barns side-by-side to each other in an L-shape.
Tuholski said one of the barns now used for storage was a milking parlor until the family decided to get out of the dairy business in 2000.
The family now raises strictly corn, soybeans and popcorn on more than 5,000 acres while a neighbor keeps about 350 head of steers on the spread in another building not impacted by the fire.
The other destroyed barn, once containing young dairy cows, was like a workshop area used for storage.
Tuholski said his son, Joe, put some parts back up for storage and left for his nearby home then a short time later noticed smoke rising up in the air.
He and other family members started getting as many things out of the barns as they could, including a few pickup trucks and tractors.
A number of sheep were also spared from the flames, including several placed over a fence for safe keeping by LaPorte County Sheriff's Deputy Dylan Hisick.
"We are proud of the immediate action by Deputy Hisick and his commitment to serving others, especially in this case for the Tuholski family," said LaPorte County Police Capt. Derek Allen.
A lot of equipment, including a small tractor attached to a tiller and sprayers, could not be saved from the rapidly spreading flames.
"When the fire got in that ceiling area, it took off like gangbusters," Tuholski said.
His niece, Rebecca Tuholski, was planning to show at least some of the deceased animals during the LaPorte County Fair in July in what is her 10th and final year in the 4-H program.
Pleasant Twp. Fire Chief Kevin Bluhm said flames were shooting from the roof in one buildings and spreading to the other structure when firefighters first pulled up.
They attacked the fire by first successfully driving the flames away from an area containing herbicides and other farm related chemicals.
Farm chemicals when coming into contact with fire can produce a toxic vapor and create a potential breathing hazard for firefighters and surrounding residents.
Bluhm said an aerial truck from the LaPorte Fire Department was brought in to get more water onto the flames from up above once the metal roof started being ripped from one of the structures with block walls.
The siding of the other structure was made of tin, which was torn away to get water inside from ground level.
Bluhm said the Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office will assist in trying to determine the cause of the fire.
Tuholski said he doesn't have a clue how it started.
"I've been picking my brain since the fire trying to figure out what could have happened," he said.
Other responding firefighters were from Lincoln, Kankakee and Scipio Twps, Kingsford-Union, Kingsbury and North Liberty.
"We had a large amount of tankers shuttling water in," Bluhm said.
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