By Josh Nelson
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
CLERMONT, Iowa — The city’s fire chief found himself in unfamiliar territory after a shop he owned was destroyed in a weekend fire.
The blaze broke out around 2:30 a.m., in an automotive repair shop next door to Chief Randy Wiedenhoff’s house in Clermont. The building, which had a number of tools and two cars, was completely destroyed, he said.
“It wasn’t very pretty,” he said.
Wiedenhoff owned the shop and leased it to a local repair man. He said he awoke to the sounds of oxygen and acetylene tanks exploding. At the time, however, he thought it may have been a neighbor shooting a skunk that was in the area earlier.
At the time, Weidenhoff said he was worried about other combustible materials hurting fire crews or other people in the area.
This is the first time a disaster like this has hit so close to home for the 31-year fire department veteran.
“I can feel what people go through,” he said.
Fire crews were at the site until 8 a.m., when Wiedenhoff sent them home. The Office of Fire Marshal hasn’t determined a cause of the fire, though an investigation is still underway.
Wiedenhoff said he’d like to rebuild the shop at some point.
Copyright 2009 Waterloo Courier