By CHRIS MEYERS
Staff writer

    A crash Wednesday night northwest of Columbia City killed a passenger in the car and seriously injured the driver after the car rolled into a creek and caught fire, according to police.
    According to a press release from the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, 18-year-old Fort Wayne resident Lauren M. Coffee was eastbound on Lincolnway West and approaching Sheckler Road when the wreck occurred.
    For an unknown reason, Coffee lost control of the vehicle, which crossed the center line and went off the north side of the road into a creek, according to the report.
    The car landed upside down in the creek and then caught fire.
Rescuers removed Coffee, who was unconscious, from the 1998 Oldsmobile and then rushed her to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne.
    She suffered several fractures and other internal injuries, according to the report. A passenger in the car was pronounced dead at the scene.
    The victim’s identity was not yet released and the investigation is ongoing, according to the sheriff’s department.
   

Electrical short likely cause of house fire

    A house fire Wednesday night near South Whitely that nearly destroyed the second story of the home was likely caused by an electrical short or overload of the system, according to fire officials.
    Cleveland Township firefighters responded to the call at about 9:30 p.m. and found smoke in the upper level of the home and in the stairway, said Kent Slater of the Cleveland Township Fire Department.
    He said the fire likely started in the walls of the stairway and progressed into the attic.
    Firefighters were able to knock down the fire quickly and get it under control, but were called back at about 3:30 a.m. because the fire had rekindled, according to Slater.
    He said the fire had likely tunnelled through the home’s blown-in insulation and left a hot spot that caused the rekindle.
    Columbia Township’s fire department was called to the scene to use its insulation vacuum to ensure that all flammable material was out of the walls.
    Richland and Washington townships were called to stand-by at their stations in case more assistance was needed.