A nasty three-alarm fire sent a north Lincoln business up in flames Monday afternoon, and slowed down traffic in the area of 23rd and Cornhusker Highway while Lincoln Fire & Rescue (LFR) crews worked to contain the blaze.
Battalion Chief Mark Majors said the call came in just after 2:30 p.m., reporting some type of explosion that took place, and a car on fire inside of the garage of an auto business.
Upon arrival, LFR crews found smoke coming from the building and confronted the flames being fanned by strong winds.
“Crews immediately began working, deployed numerous hand lines due to the wind and the extent of the fire. This was, what we call, a ‘defensive fire’ from the moment that we got here, meaning it was a bit too dangerous, and the fire was already advanced enough that we weren’t able to take crews and go inside like we normally would on a structure and conduct what we call ‘offensive’ or interior functions,” said Majors.
LFR utilized several different nearby fire-hydrants, “and got a lot of water where we needed it the most,” Majors added.
As the heated battle raged on, the roof of the building collapsed in what Majors described as a “v-shape,” rendering the east side of the building “a complete exclusion zone.” Crews were kept away from this area, and Majors says, they focused on defensive firefighting to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring buildings.
“Only the building we were originally dispatched to sustained heavy fire damage. Crews did a great job by deploying a lot of those other hand lines, and we directed them a lot at that east side just to protect that building next door,” said Majors.
An investigation into what sparked the fire is still on-going, as there could be numerous different causes related to an auto-shop said Majors. He did not have a preliminary estimation on the costs of the damages.
“We had crews that were at a safe working distance, and nobody was injured or caught in any type of collapse,” Majors concluded.
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- Tom Stanton, KLIN News