A massive fire that covered an entire city block in historic downtown North Vernon on Friday left three families homeless and caused two buildings to collapse.

More than a dozen area fire departments battled the blaze, which was reported to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department at 4:48 a.m. It was brought under control around 11 a.m.

At midmorning, with the temperature at 19 degrees, firefighters were using about 2,500 gallons of water a minute to fight the blaze.

“It looks like they came close a couple times to having (the fire) under control, and then it flashed up through the roof again,” North Vernon Mayor Harold “Soup” Campbell said. “They’ve really got their hands full.”

Five firefighters were taken to the hospital for minor injuries from the impact of the building collapse, the only injuries reported.

“We think maybe, hopefully, we dodged a bullet,” Campbell said of there being no major injuries.

He said it’s unclear whether anyone was inside the buildings at the time of the fire.

The main building affected by the fire was Hatton’s Carpet and Flooring Store, 24 Fifth St. Owned by Larry Hatton, it has three levels and contains apartments in addition to the carpet business.

This is the second fire reported at that location this month.

The buildings that collapsed Friday contained two other businesses — McConnell-Finnerty law office and Pamper Parlor salon. Seymour Fire Chief Brad Lucas estimated five other buildings were damaged.

Campbell said the buildings affected by the fire are more than 100 years old.

He said the area where the fire broke out was undergoing a major façade project by Bradshaw Building Specialties of North Vernon. Work was about to begin on the streetscape, he added. A lift owned by Bradshaw being used for the project was damaged in the fire.

Work is now halted on that project at least until spring, Campbell said.

Three years ago, the city was one of three in the state awarded a project through the Indiana Stellar Communities Program. The renovation project was part of that initiative.

“We have to start next week to get somebody from the state giving us some direction, to do the assessments and see what we’ve got here,” Campbell said of the damage.

Five aerial ladder trucks were in use at one point, causing a constant light rain to sprinkle over emergency personnel and creating a plume of thick, white smoke. The smoke could be seen seven miles east of Seymour city limits.

Sidewalks, stoplights, streetlights and firefighter helmets were glazed with ice.

However, the cold didn’t hamper the water flow through the hoses, Lucas said.

He said four firefighters from Seymour were on the scene. A mutual aid agreement binds Seymour and North Vernon fire departments, but Lucas said he couldn’t recall a time in his career that he has been called over to help out.

At 2 p.m., Lucas said an investigator with the state fire marshal’s office was on scene to determine the cause of the fire.

A little more than two weeks ago, a fire struck Hatton’s building and left around 30 people without a home. North Vernon Fire Chief Rick McGill said an investigation determined the Nov. 5 fire to be accidental. No injuries were reported in that fire, which started in an apartment above the carpet store.

There also was a murder that occurred at those apartments in late October when a Dupont man, Richard A. Smith, was beaten to death by two men.

Having two fires in the same location may require city officials to look into the buildings more to make sure they are up to code, Campbell said.

“This may be a good warning,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we’ve got to address and re-look at. It’s going to take some serious looking.”

Some of those displaced are housed at privately owned or church-operated shelters, Campbell said. There used to be a city-county shelter, but it closed nearly a year ago due to lack of use.

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To help families displaced by a second fire in downtown North Vernon on Friday, send checks or money orders to the Jennings County United Way at P.O. Box 446, North Vernon, IN 47265.

Those wanting to donate should include a note instructing the money be used to help those affected by the downtown fire.

You also can donate online at jcunitedway.com.

All clothing, furniture and appliance donations should be made to Goodwill or St. Vincent De Paul in North Vernon, and food donations can be made to Good Samaritan Food Pantry, also in North Vernon. Vouchers will be distributed to families to allow them to shop for what they need.

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Businesses in the two buildings that collapsed Friday from a fire in downtown North Vernon:

• Hatton’s Carpet
• McConnell-Finnerty law office
• Pamper Parlor

There also were apartments above those buildings. About 30 people had already been displaced from a fire more than two weeks ago in one of the buildings.

Friday’s fire also caused extensive damage to five other buildings. But those buildings are still standing.

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A fire in downtown North Vernon was reported to Jennings County Sheriff’s Department dispatch at 4:48 a.m.

Around 8:15 a.m., a plume of smoke rising from the buildings could be seen 7 miles east of Seymour.

By 8:30 a.m., mutual aid continued to arrive on scene. By that time, more than a dozen fire departments were battling the blaze, and other emergency personnel were assisting and rerouting traffic.

By 10 a.m., two buildings, housing apartments and three businesses, had collapsed.

Just after 11 a.m., North Vernon Mayor Harold “Soup” Campbell said the fire was under control.

At 2 p.m., the state fire marshal’s office was on scene.

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