"NOTHING THERE TO IMPEDE IT"

“The conditions were right,

the fuel was there,

the oxygen was there,

the doors were open,

and there was nothing there to impede it.”

Assistant Elyria Fire Chief Tim Mitchell

Assistant Fire Chief Tim Mitchell of the Elyria Fire Department said that Firefighters could see the smoke from their ramp at the Cedar Street Station. “We received the call at 1637hrs (4:37pm) and that was for smoke coming from a building at 2nd and West, but as we got closer we could tell it was going to be further away. When we arrived the building was fully involved, the doors were open and the flames were totally consumed inside the building.”

Chief Mitchell said that they decided to attack the fire defensively with their Ladder Truck because there were no reports of anyone being inside of the building. “A second Engine came in and laid a supply line from West River to help with more water. We also had a few spot fires around the structure, it was kind of wind aided for a while with the winds gusting up to 25mph.”

Smoke could been seen for miles away from the fire scene and Chief Mitchell said that is partly due to the type of roof on the building. “It had bow string construction, which means it had that type of roof that is rounded and it had an asphalt coating to it that created a lot of smoke. The building, being as old as it is, once it had that fire inside with the really heavy timbers once that let go the whole roof comes down.”

With as massive as the fire was, FOX 8 NEWS even referring to it as an INFERNO, Chief Mitchell said it was under control in about a half hour. “We had it under control and I was sending outside companies back within a half hour but we were probably on scene for about two hours after we cleaned everything up."

The Elyria Fire Department Fire Prevention Bureau is investigating the fire.

To see more photos: CLICK HERE