By Tim Bragg
Fresno Bee (California)
Copyright 2006 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Dozens of firefighters from three departments battled a huge fire Monday night in downtown Tulare that destroyed a business and damaged at least five others.
The fire began about 5:30 p.m. at California Office Liquidators in the 200 block of K Street near Kern Street.
Witnesses said they heard a fire alarm go off in the business and went outside to see smoke and flames.
Tulare Fire Chief Michael Threlkeld said fire crews knocked down the flames several times but they kept flaring up again. He said the office supply store was full of furniture, which made for good fuel for the fire.
The fire was contained about 9 p.m. The cause was under investigation.
The fire was burning in a block of mostly brick buildings built in the 1920s, said Lee Myers, owner of California Office Liquidators.
Myers said he closed for the afternoon and left for home, but returned when he was told his business was on fire.
Even as he watched his business burn, Myers said he was trying to stay positive. He said he planned to reactivate the telephone number for his business today, and he planned to find temporary quarters so he could continue to sell office furniture.
“I am too young to retire,” Myers said.
Because of the intense flames, Tulare fire officials called the Tulare County and Visalia fire departments for help.
About 100 firefighters responded from as far away as Lindsay and Farmersville.
Visalia and Tulare County fire units responded to other emergency calls in Tulare because all of that city’s firefighters were at the downtown fire, Threlkeld said.
The fire produced a column of smoke that was visible throughout Tulare. Four ladder trucks poured water on the fire from overhead.
The fire started in the office of the furniture store, but firefighters had difficulty containing it because of the way the buildings are constructed.
Darlene Ziegler, who owns a dance-wear store in the building complex, said the buildings are connected by a common basement and attic, which put the other businesses on that block in danger.
Ziegler said her daughter heard the alarm and, when she looked into the door of the adjacent buildings, saw the lights flicker and go out.
Threlkeld said he planned to assemble a countywide investigation team to pick through the remains of the store today.
He didn’t have an exact estimate for the damage but said it would be “in the millions.”