GRANITE CITY – An extremely intense warehouse fire in the 3300 block of Illinois Route 162 in Granite City required multiple agencies to battle, but in the end, the cooperation of all the departments enabled firefighters to remain safe and the blaze extinguished.
The warehouse stored an abundance of materials, including clothing and paint products, both very flammable, Granite City Battalion Chief Jeff Joyce said.
It was believed the fire started after an accidental gasoline spill inside, Joyce said. He said someone was repairing a lawnmower and the gas can was knocked over and a heater caught fire. There was no investigation of the fire once that was discovered and brought to the forefront by the person repairing the lawn mower, he said.
The main point Joyce wanted to make was how much the cooperation of not only Granite City’s firefighters, but all those called in the commercial box alarm made in battling the fire. The other fire departments present were Long Lake Fire Department, Mitchell Fire Department, Camp Jackson Fire Department, and State Park Fire Department.
Joyce said the water supply was limited at the scene and without the other departments hauling water and assisting, it would have been almost impossible. Long Lake and Mitchell were especially active in the water hauling and pumping process, he said.
“We can’t thank the other departments enough for what they did on Tuesday here,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the wonderful job all of them. Some hauled water and others helped us with our stations. We called out 10 additional Granite City firefighters to help with this fire.”
Joyce explained he, the chief, and the other Granite City firefighters feel extremely fortunate to have a relationship with neighboring departments.
There appeared to be sentiments hanging over the situation after the recent death of Capt. Jake Ringering at a Bethalto fire. Joyce said that fire was fresh in all the firefighters’ minds and he and the other leaders did everything they could to make sure all were safe in this situation.
Joyce said the warehouse was mostly gutted and he said it has been condemned by Granite City Building and Zoning.
Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
