ANTHONY LANE Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, August 1, 2006 12:00 am
Firefighters sifted through debris Monday afternoon as they tried to determine what caused a fire the previous night that devoured a Casper warehouse filled with roofing materials.
"I could be here for days," said Bob Fawcett, a fire investigator with Casper Fire-EMS.
Firefighters were called to the structure in the area of East C and North Park streets at about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Fawcett said a firefighter who was among the first to arrive at the structure owned by a roofing supply business told him it looked like flames had already spread through much of the building by the time he arrived.
No one was injured in the fire, according to reports, and firefighters managed to keep flames from spreading to a neighboring warehouse also owned by Fowler & Peth.
The bulk of the building was destroyed in the fire. Stacks of shingles and piled cans of tar were among the only things left standing in sections of the building where the wooden floor did not burn completely.
Fawcett said the areas where the floor did burn through could provide clues about where and how the fire started.
"We're looking for the areas of worst damage," Fawcett said.
While no estimate is available for the cost of damage caused by the fire, according to a news release, the building was a "total loss."
About 30 firefighters from Casper Fire-EMS, the Evansville Fire Department and the Natrona County Fire Protection District responded to the blaze, taking a largely defensive approach after they encountered "a large volume of fire" and the possibility of the building's collapse.
Reporter Anthony Lane can be reached at (307) 266-0593 or at anthony.lane@casperstartribune.net.