By Denise Blaz
The Abilene Reporter-News
ABILENE, Texas — Four inches of murky water stood inside Matera Paper Co. Tuesday morning, 12 hours after Abilene firefighters fought a violent blaze downtown that claimed the 105-year-old building.
More than 45 firefighters were on the scene of the historic structure at the corner of South First and Oak streets Monday night, hoses attached to three hydrants that collectively pumped out 3,000 gallons of water a minute on the burning brick building and surrounding properties. In all, about 700.000 gallons of water were used in the firefighting effort that started just after 7:30 p.m. The fire quickly gained momentum, sending flames throughout its rooftop and popping out windows.
Two bricks walls collapsed after parts of the structure’s awning gave out. Several windows across the street in the Lauren Engineering building cracked because of the fire’s radiating heat that even kept firefighters at a distance.
Firefighters reported they extinguished the first in a little more than five hours, then waited until morning to begin cleanup duties.
Abilene Fire Department Lt. Greg Goettsch said crews opted to wait until daylight to start knocking down unstable walls that presented safety concerns. By 11 a.m. Tuesday, a city of Abilene bulldozer had knocked down the west and south side of the building, leaving whole bricks, brick pieces and other debris on closed portions of adjoining streets.
“We plan, we train, we buy this equipment for those occasional fires like we had last night,” AFD Chief Ken Dozier said. “It amazed me last night that the buildings around didn’t burn because there comes a point where you cannot cool a fire down.”
Dozier said the Matera fire started in the building’s back dock area and remains under investigation.
No cause as to what started the fire was given. No injuries were reported.
It was the quick thinking of AFD Battalion Chief Larry Bell and dozens of firefighters that stopped the blaze from spreading to the entire city block, Dozier said.
Bell said he gave the order Monday night not to position the department’s multimillion-dollar equipment in collapse zones. He said firefighters were directed to attack the blaze from the outside instead of their usual interior method. “I hate to say we were successful when a building burns to the ground, but you have to look at the big picture on what was saved and what was lost,” Dozier said. “We lost a part of Abilene’s history, but there are so many structures around that are standing today.
“I’m very proud of that fact. I think that can be attributed to the excellent equipment that we have, training and decisions that were made last night,” he said. “Those are the kind of strategic decisions that you have to make and people will always second guess you.”
Crews on raised ladders that were elevated high above the building provided a steady stream of water through 2.5-inch hoses to attack the blaze.
Bell explained that corners of buildings are strategic places to set up ladders. In the event of a collapse, corners are known to cave in and not spill out, he said.
“It did turn pretty bad when it got a breath of air. It turned into a vengeance,” Bell said. “We tried to anticipate the worst-case scenario.”
Veteran AFD firefighter Jess Madison, who fought the blaze into the morning hours, said it’s been one of the worst fires he’s encountered.
“Our reaction is always the same; it kind of gets your adrenaline pumping,” Madison said. “I think it all falls back to training. We were told to stay far from the debris; when we’re assigned to a task we already know what to do. A lot can be said on the scene with few words.”
Madison said he and his crew were called to the fire when dispatchers called out a second alarm. Dozier said the department had “every tool out of their toolbox” battling the fire. Eighty percent of the department’s equipment responded to the three-alarm call that took about 30 minutes to call out, he said.
The blaze is now the fourth major downtown fire in the past two years. A 41-year-old woman died April 25, 2011, in an apartment blaze still under investigation. The apartment above Art’s Custom Center at the intersection of South First and Sycamore streets was blocks away from Monday’s fire.
In September 2009, the two-story Abilene Candy Company in the 700 block of North Third Street was lost to fire. In November that same year, another fire claimed a 43,000-square-foot warehouse in the 400 block of Plum Street.
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