SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Indianapolis Fire Department Lt. Russell Futrell said when he arrived at the Richmond Hill explosion, he wasn’t sure there had ever been a building at 8349 Fieldfare Way.
“I didn’t know if it was possibly a playground that the Richmond Hill subdivision had and it happened to be between these two homes,” Futrell said. “But later, not too much, later, I realized that was what had occurred. The house had been leveled.”
“For all intents and purposes,” he said, “it was an empty lot.”
Futrell was the first witness called Tuesday in the trial of Richmond Hill explosion suspect and alleged mastermind Mark Ray Leonard.
He told jurors he was awakened by the explosion while asleep at Indianapolis Fire Station 63 – located within a mile of the Richmond Hill neighborhood.
“There was a loud explosion that actually physically rocked the building,” Futrell said. “A loud explosion that was nothing like I’d ever heard before.”
The firefighters at Station 63 were concerned at first that a plane from the nearby Greenwood Airport may have crashed.
“At that point I realized that I needed to take action,” Futrell said. “I got on the phone and hit the PA button and said, ‘Engine crew, let’s roll.’ We were going to find out what occurred, regardless of where it was or what it was, because I didn’t want to wait to act on something else.”
On the way toward the airport, Futrell said he realized the smoke was actually coming from the nearby Richmond Hill neighborhood. His crew rolled into the subdivision to find people in “various modes of dress” out in the streets. Residents helped guide firefighters to the epicenter of the blast.
“As a firefighter you prepare yourself for things like this … but, uh, as I said earlier I realized it was going to be a long night. And it was,” Futrell told jurors.
After alerting dispatch to the situation, Futrell entered the house immediately south of the explosion site. It was already “50 percent collapsed,” Futrell said.
“I opened the door, walked a few steps into the entryway and yelled to see if anyone was home. I didn’t get a response,” he said.
Futrell took a moment to compose himself on the witness stand before going forward. He resumed speaking, but audibly choked up.
“I didn’t know at that time that people were in the residence,” he said. “If I had known that, I would have risked everything to go inside there. I made the decision that, since I didn’t know if the people in that home were one of the people I’d talked to, one of the people I’d passed along Fieldfare Way … I didn’t know that.”
Futrell then went to the house on the other side of the lot, where Glen Olvey and his family were trapped in debris.
“I went in there and realized there were people assisting others that were trapped in there,” Futrell said.
One of the rescuers identified himself as a captain with the Lawrence Fire Department. Seeing that a trained firefighter was involved in the rescue effort at the home, Futrell moved his crew to begin fire suppression at several nearby homes that had caught fire.
Futrell said he also saw three small gas-fed fires in the area.
“You could tell based on the color of them and the location of them,” he said. “They weren’t threats to me at the time, but I knew they would be.”
Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson asked Futrell if he meant natural gas. He said he did.
After hours fighting the fire, Futrell and his crew were sent home at around 5 a.m.
Three days later, they were sent back to the scene to dig through debris, looking in particular for a “valve-like item.” Investigators didn’t tell them at the time what they were looking for.
Futrell, a 25-year veteran firefighter, said Richmond Hill remains a singular experience in his career – one that will be with him for a long time.
“A long time would be an understatement,” he said. “For the rest of my life, it will be something I live with.”
Cross-examination of Futrell was short. Lead defense attorney Diane Black asked Futrell if the scene was immediately cordoned off as a crime scene. He said no. She asked him if the Olvey’s daughter told him she and her mom smelled gas the day before the explosion. An objection to the question was overrulled, and Futrell said yes. He was then excused as a witness.
Republished with permission from The Indy Channel