MASSIVE FIRE IN WELLINGTON

DESTROYS DOWNTOWN WAREHOUSE

A massive fire ripped through a downtown Wellington warehouse Monday afternoon completely destroying the structure.

Assistant Fire Chief Mike Wetherbee of the Wellington Fire District said the call came in at 1:10 p.m. and when Firefighters arrived they found smoke and flames coming from northeast section of the building. “We started our attack on that corner but with the building open, the fire load and the building is full of furniture on this end (west end) and packaging materials on the other end that made the fire move quickly.”

Water supply was a big concern for the Firefighters; Chief Wetherbee said that with a fire of this magnitude it’s hard to get enough water even out of the city water system to fight the blaze. “We hit the hydrants that we could hit, laid in from all the hydrants we could, but every time you hit a hydrant you are stealing from another engine.” Two Water Shuttles were set up near the fire scene, one to the north and one to the south. Wetherbee said that they were filling tankers from city hydrants on the other side of the community where the water pressure was still up. Shuttles were filling up from rural areas as well.

The building is located in the 100 block of Dewolf Street just south of the tracks and just east of Route 58. The building houses Will-DO Packaging and Hemlock Cottage Furniture.

Firefighters began shooting water on the homes across from the fire due to the intense heat and flying embers.

To see extensive photo coverage of the blaze: CLICK HERE