2-alarm fire on Washington, north of Kellogg
A large warehouse containing automotive parts and storage caught fire at Washington and Lewis in Wichita.
The alarm came out at 4:11 a.m. Saturday. Washington was reopened between Kellogg and Waterman at mid-morning.
When firefighters arrived at the one-story, white brick building, they could see the fire through a window. But they couldn't get to the flames because there were storage items blocking most of the four entrances. Firefighters used saws to break through two overhead doors.
"The building was full of storage items so we didn't get in very far," said Wichita Deputy Fire Chief Tammy Snow. "The smoke started getting a lot worse. We started watching some buckling of the building, some bowing out of the sides of the building so we went defensive operations.
"We called for a second alarm and set up defensive operations."
After fighting the fire for a time and making sure the roofs of the buildings to the north were OK, the west wall of the building along Washington collapsed around 5 a.m.
"The collapse opened up the building and allowed us to use our master streams to extinquish the fire," said Snow.
Snow said the building is leased to Coin Auto by the Church of the Nazarene.
"It was an auto storage facility," Snow said. "They had numerous cars in there, auto parts, motor oil, tires. They went in there and worked on cars periodically."
This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.