An early-morning fire consumed the WESTCO Tire Center on Tuesday morning in the largest blaze since Vitalix burned down in 2018.
Alliance Volunteer Fire Department Chief Troy Shoemaker said the department was dispatched at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.
“When we arrived, there were radio reports that we received while we were coming to it,” said Shoemaker. “We did locate a fire on the west side of the building, exteriorly, and it was lapping over. We believe that the fire started on the exterior of the structure, and then breached the interior.”
Shoemaker said the portion of the building where the fire began was where tires and oil drums were stored.
“That was a big fire load,” said Shoemaker. “There was a lot of heat produced in there. Once that happens, it takes a lot of water.”
Shoemaker explained that finding enough water to battle the blaze was a challenge in fighting this fire. He explained that they had tapped into four fire hydrants to bring in enough water.
“We’re maxing the capacity of those four fire hydrants,” Shoemaker said. “We have a truck that’s not operating at its max capacity because of a fire hydrant, but it’s still producing good water for us. We’re still being able to apply water to the fire. It’s been an interesting time so far.”
Shoemaker noted that the way the building was constructed posed a risk to firefighters, which is why he made the decision to not send firefighters into the structure.
“The whole south structure used to be a Jack and Jill grocery store when I grew up,” said Shoemaker. “It has what you call a bowstring construction. When the major strength point weakens to the point it’s going to fail, and when the roof collapses on a bowstring construction, the walls go out, too, or sometimes the walls go in. Once a roof collapses on top of a fire, you get pockets, and sometimes you can’t get the water directed where you want it to go.
“With that construction type, we didn’t put anybody inside there,” Shoemaker said. “Bowstring construction kills firefighters, and I’m not wanting to do that. Not for tires. We weren’t able to send anybody in. We had the ladder up prior to the roof collapse. We knew it was going to come, and we were waiting for that moment.”
The north side of the structure sustained substantial damage from heat and smoke, Shoemaker noted. He said the propane tanks and the bulk fuel on the west side of the building had a protection line on them from the start to prevent the fire from spreading to them.”
“We did stop it from coming all the way across the ceiling inside this new part,” said Shoemaker. “There is a significant amount of damage to the whole car care complex.”
Shoemaker explained that they received help from the Hemingford Fire Department.
“We have roughly 22 firefighters total,” Shoemaker said. “We have three engines and our aerial, all pumping water. So, we have about 5,500 gallons of water flowing—that’s 5,500 gallons per minute.”
Shoemaker said an emergency alert was sent out regarding the fire, to let people know to avoid the area. He noted that in this case, it had the opposite effect.
“Social media sometimes helps us, and sometimes it hinders us,” Shoemaker said. “The minute that the city launched the Code Red and launched a Facebook page, we got converged on. The reason we do that is so that you don’t converge on us. It’s not an invitation to come see what happens. Sometimes that can hinder us. Fortunately, on this one, it didn’t.
“The whole purpose of the city putting out those kind of alerts and notices is for that not to happen,” said Shoemaker. “We just ask people to heed those types of instructions and it assures that we’re safe, and it assures that you’re safe. We’ve had explosions in this fire. We could have had shrapnel, and anything could have came out with that. There’s no reason to get an innocent bystander hurt.”
One of positive things Shoemaker saw during the fire was the amount of compassion people showed while they were fighting the fire.
“Humanity really comes out when you have something like that,” said Shoemaker. “We’re having people drop off water. The police department is bending over backwards for us bringing water and food. WESTCO has brought us some drinks and are allowing us to use their restroom facility. It brings out good in people. I like to see more good than bad.”
David Briggs, WESTCO General Manager, said that he is grateful for the quick response from the firefighters. He said he is thankful that there was no one injured. Briggs said that WESTCO employs 10 people at that location.
“We’re thankful our fire department was able to respond quickly,” said Briggs. “They were on scene very quickly and helped contain the fire so it didn’t spread beyond the one building. The fire marshal is here right now and starting the investigation to determine what happened. Thankfully nobody was injured.
“The ladder truck was extremely beneficial in getting that thing controlled,” Briggs said. “It’s nice we have that asset in our community.”
UPDATE: As of Tuesday night, the underpass on Third Street is now open to traffic, though a partial closure is in effect on Black Hills Avenue. The Alliance Police Department is urging people to use caution while traveling in that area.