{"id":13809,"date":"2016-04-09T20:16:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T00:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=13809"},"modified":"2016-04-09T22:10:48","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T02:10:48","slug":"melrose-loses-local-landmark-diner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/melrose-loses-local-landmark-diner\/","title":{"rendered":"Melrose Loses Local Landmark Diner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Uncle-Fudds-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13810\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13810\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Uncle-Fudds-1.jpg?resize=666%2C497\" alt=\"Uncle Fudd's 1\" width=\"666\" height=\"497\" \/><\/a> The day started off so normal in the small Paulding County town. Though there are not too many businesses in Melrose, one that is well known in the region is Uncle Fudd\u2019s Diner. It\u2019s been pleasing to customers for years while also providing jobs.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, April 8 about 10 minutes \u2019til 2 in the afternoon, according to Oakwood Fire Chief, Kenny Thomas, a call came in for a fire\u2014nearly an hour after it closed after lunch. He drove there with the firefighters and were the first to arrive at the location.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qo13TCZSuZc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Quickly, the Oakwood Fire Department moved on the scene with hoses, breaking the windows and flooding the structure with water. At one point he thought they had the fire nearly under control. Suddenly, the fire reached into the ceiling, catching some kind of flammable material and causing the flames to proliferate<\/p>\n<p>Soon fire departments around the area arrived to combat the flaming foe and the newly realized energy of the heavy black smoke billowing out. Paulding brought in their ladder truck to stop the flames from above while Cecil arrived with their tanker truck. \u201cIt was just a bad time of day for a fire.\u201d stated Thomas, \u201cNot that there is a good time, but this was especially bad with people at work and shift changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13815\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13815\" style=\"width: 666px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Weather.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13815\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13815\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Weather.jpg?resize=666%2C500\" alt=\"Weather was terrible for these brave volunteers.\" width=\"666\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13815\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Weather was terrible for these brave volunteers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While the volunteers were working, the Morning Star Gas Station &amp; Convenience store brought in food to give sustenance to all the workers. The Paulding County Sheriff\u2019s Office was there keeping order and blocking traffic on the State Highway 613 to keep the locale safe and Red Cross setup operations to provide relief.<\/p>\n<p>So much water was trucked in using tankers that it nearly drained Oakwood\u2019s water tower. Chief Thomas said the ground was too soft from the recent rain and they couldn\u2019t get trucks to pump water from the nearby ponds. There is no city water system and therefore no fire hydrants in the town. When they couldn\u2019t use the local water, it was thought, \u201cWhy not use the water that\u2019s running off the structure?\u201d So, a pump was put in the catch basin and reused on the same fire. What great thinking!<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-13811\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Uncle-Fudds-2.jpg?resize=666%2C497\" alt=\"Uncle Fudd's 2\" width=\"666\" height=\"497\" \/>The weather was nasty which didn\u2019t help much. Rain, heavy sleet, and snow would randomly spray from the heavens.<\/p>\n<p>The fire was out by 6:00 pm with several hot spots still burning under the fallen metal roof. The Fire Marshall was investigating the structure and checking out where and why the fire may have started. It was speculated by one expert on the scene that it may have started in the back of the building near the west corner.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Uncle-Fudds-3.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13812\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13812\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Uncle-Fudds-3.jpg?resize=666%2C497\" alt=\"Uncle Fudd's 3\" width=\"666\" height=\"497\" \/><\/a>Firemen were continuing to watch the structure as several departments started to pack up and head back to their origins. The wind began to pick up again and it could be a concern for the volatile structure. They certainly don\u2019t want it start up again.<\/p>\n<p>As many as 50+ volunteers helped out at this devastating disaster and they all did a great job. Only one injury was reported. Departments that helped out included: Auglaize, Cecil, Paulding, Oakwood, Grover Hill, Payne, Continental, Scott, and others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are whipped!\u201d said Allen Sharp, firefighter. It was a lot of work getting it all under control.<\/p>\n<p>This landmark will certainly be missed and we are sad for the owners. Uncle Fudd\u2019s had great food and fun entertainment and everyone around knew it. We miss you and we would love to see you back!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The day started off so normal in the small Paulding County town. Though there are not too many businesses in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":431,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,6],"tags":[2113,1205,59,5403],"class_list":["post-13809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-community","category-community","tag-fire","tag-melrose","tag-paulding","tag-uncle-funds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-3AJ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 20:00:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/431"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}