https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2020/11/06/firefighters-battle-business-fire-along-kilgore-avenue/6187290002/
Friday fire destroys auto repair business on Kilgore Avenue
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Friday morning fire destroyed an auto repair business on Muncie's west side.
Firefighters were called to a blaze at Automotive West Inc., 3816 W. Kilgore Ave., just west of the Youth Opportunity Center. shortly before 11 a.m. Friday.
Brian Manship, acting battalion chief of the Muncie Fire Department, said the efforts of Muncie firefighters to bring the blaze under control were hampered by four non-operating fire hydrants in the area.
Power remained out for about 250 customers as of 1:30 p.m.
Rick Rowray of the neighboring Youth Opportunity Center said an auxiliary YOC office building closest to the fire scene was evacuated in response to the fire. No problems — other than the power outage — had been reported at the YOC campus, however.
One of the hydrants, near the YOC, was eventually activated.
The crisis prompted calls for assistance from the Yorktown, Cowan, Hamilton Township, Liberty Township, Gaston, Albany, Eaton and Daleville fire departments, with some tankers bringing water to the scene, according to 911 dispatch officials.
"It was almost a countywide operation," Manship said.
Authorities remained uncertain what started the blaze. Manship said vehicles inside the business had been consumed by the fire, and at least three vehicles parked outside were damaged.
By 11:15 a.m., a portion of one wall had collapsed in flames. Explosions from inside the building — automobile tires, according to one source — were audible after the wall collapsed.
Ten minutes after that., scanner traffic indicated the fire was lessening slightly, but firefighters were still working to supply water to areas around the scene.
Just after 11:30 a.m., firefighters warned that the front of the building was "bowing out" so crews should move back. Fire also was spreading to nearby grass and a car on one side of the building.
No related injuries were reported.
About 11:15 a.m., power went out for nearly 500 customers in the vicinity of the fire, in an area stretching from Elm Ridge Cemetery to Batavia Avenue, according to the Indiana Michigan Power website. Traffic lights along nearby Tillotson Avenue as well as Kilgore were out as a result.
Power remained out for about 250 customers as of 1:30 p.m.
Rick Rowray of the neighboring Youth Opportunity Center said an auxiliary YOC office building closest to the fire scene was evacuated in response to the fire. No problems — other than the power outage — had been reported at the YOC campus, however.
When Friday's fire first broke out, a towering cloud of smoke emerging from the structure was visible from miles away.
Delaware County and Muncie Fire Department ambulance crews were on hand, as was the county's emergency management agency, which was working to prevent runoff from the fire scene going into the White River.