(La Porte County, IN) - A local fire chief is praising the quick thinking of his men that kept them from being electrocuted like a married couple was before they arrived.

 

Cass-Clinton Fire Chief Jeff Mitzner said the first firefighters to get there using flashlights to see in the dark ordered the electricity shut off before moving closer to the victims.  He said it would have been easy to rush in to try and help but they wisely stayed back to avoid potential danger.

 

“My first guys on the scene recognized what had happened and they just didn’t go jump in,” Mitzner said.

 

Todd and Tricia Rosenbaum, both 60, were electrocuted on Saturday at their Wanatah area farm.

 

La Porte County Coroner Lynn Swanson said the investigation shows Mr. Rosenbaum was using a sump pump to move water from a creek into a man-made pond while his wife was sitting on the edge of the creek with her feet in the water.

 

He was in the creek handling the pump when both of them were electrocuted, she said.

 

Swanson said one of their daughters who had been trying to reach them on the phone went to the home and discovered the bodies.  She said how the electricity escaped from the pump is still being investigated but it could have had a cracked seal.

 

Mitzner, who’s also a farmer, said the deaths have left the close-knit community stunned.

 

“They were out doing things as husband and wife as my wife and I do all of the time on the farm.  It’s a bad situation that happened,” he said.

 

According to family members, the pond was recently dug for a “dream home” the couple had planned to build.

 

Visiting hours are set for Thursday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post in Wanatah with the funeral scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wanatah.