Recent snow aids in fire battle

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

GALESBURG - With burning debris flying through the air Monday, firefighters kept watch to make sure the blaze that destroyed the former O.T. Johnson and Gross Galesburg buildings did not spread to other areas of town.

Galesburg Fire Chief John Cratty said at the peak of fire, the department had one firefighter on the aerial ladder and one on top of Mary Allen West watching the roofs of nearby buildings for signs of smoke. For the first two hours, burning debris was falling up to a block and a half away from the fire.

By late morning the fire was under control so some of the firefighters were assigned to check for any smoldering fires on the roofs of area businesses, Battalion Chief Ted Hoffman said. The only confirmed fire discovered was at Billiards on Main Inc., 156 E. Main St., at 1:21 p.m.

Hoffman said firefighters already had checked the roof of the business and had been trying to vent smoke from the business, but for some reason could not clear the building. After closer inspection, they discovered embers had managed to get into cracks around the roof and a small fire was smoldering underneath. No flame was ever seen.

Damage was limited to some scorching on a wall.

What saved other businesses from catching on fire was the recent snow, Hoffman said. When firefighters checked out the roofs, they could see where large chunks of burning debris had melted the snow, but had not been able to ignite the roof. For some reason, the roof over Billiards on Main had very little snow on it.

Hoffman said firefighters were also lucky Monday morning the wind was blowing only 9 mph. If the gusty winds predicted today would have blown here early Monday morning, the damage could have been more extensive, he said.