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Around 11:40 p.m. Monday, the Pierce Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the building, located in the 200 block of South Lucas Street, for a report of an attached garage on fire. Upon arrival, firefighters found the south half of the garage fully involved in flames.
Heavy smoke billowed from a building that houses three businesses in Pierce, including Expressions Floral. Traffic was diverted on a small portion of Highway 13 early Tuesday morning as fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze.
Around 11:40 p.m. Monday, the Pierce Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the building, located in the 200 block of South Lucas Street, for a report of an attached garage on fire. Upon arrival, firefighters found the south half of the garage fully involved in flames.
Around 11:40 p.m. Monday, the Pierce Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the building, located in the 200 block of South Lucas Street, for a report of an attached garage on fire. Upon arrival, firefighters found the south half of the garage fully involved in flames.
Heavy smoke billowed from a building that houses three businesses in Pierce, including Expressions Floral. Traffic was diverted on a small portion of Highway 13 early Tuesday morning as fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze.
A two-story building on Lucas Street in Pierce was destroyed by a fire that broke out late Monday.
The building — which houses Expressions Floral & Gifts, Chilvers Abstract & Title Co., a hair salon and an apartment — is considered a total loss, according to Pierce fire chief Steve Dolesh. Most, if not all, of the contents inside the building also are a complete loss, he said.
Around 11:40 p.m. Monday, the Pierce Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the building, located in the 200 block of South Lucas Street, for a report of an attached garage on fire. Upon arrival, firefighters found the south half of the garage fully involved in flames.
The fire quickly spread through the entire building. Dolesh said the building’s metal roof did not allow for ventilation, which resulted in the quick heating of the interior and contributed to the fire’s rapid spread.
“It’s super hard to penetrate through the metal roof and ventilate,” Dolesh said. “The roof holds the heat in and runs the entire length of the building. … It’s a great roof system unless your house or building is on fire; then it’s a totally different story.”
Dolesh immediately called for mutual aid from the Plainview, Osmond, Hadar, Randolph and Battle Creek fire departments. The Norfolk Fire Division also provided mutual aid in the form of an aerial ladder and a drone pilot.
It took 40 to 50 firefighters until 3 to 3:30 a.m. Tuesday to get the fire under control, Dolesh said. Around 315,000 gallons of water were used as of 9 a.m.
One person was inside an upstairs apartment when the fire started, but the occupant was able to evacuate the building unharmed. Dolesh said the tenant was awoken by a smoke detector.
Two nearby homes — one to the south and one to the west — were evacuated because of possible exposure issues, according to the fire chief. Strong north winds were blowing smoke onto the home south of the fire.
The building, which Dolesh said has been around at least 60 years, had many uses over the years and had undergone additions and renovations. Most recently, the majority of the building housed the flower shop, with the south part home to the abstract business and the northern quarter occupied by the salon.
Because of the building’s size and the number of different uses it’s had through the years, there were several hidden areas — multiple roofs and ceilings — that firefighters had difficulty accessing, Dolesh said.
The cause of the fire isn’t yet known, and the state fire marshal’s office was at the scene Tuesday morning investigating.
Several firefighters were still at the scene as of late Tuesday morning. Dolesh said some hard-to-get-to places within the interior of the building still needed to be extinguished, but the building is not safe to enter, so crews had to wait for an excavator to come remove the top half of the building.
“We’ll probably still be here for a while,” Dolesh said around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The fire chief thanked mutual aid partners for their work at the scene, as well as the Pierce Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance. Law enforcement officers were the first at the scene and gave firefighters an idea of what they were looking at, the chief said.
Drone pilots from both the Pierce and Norfolk departments were helpful in giving firefighters an idea of where the main hot spots were inside the building, he added.
The City of Pierce’s utilities and water departments assisted at the scene, as did Black Hills Energy.
Story updated at 10:12 a.m.
First reported at 6:42 a.m.
Traffic on a small section of Highway 13 in Pierce was being diverted as fire crews worked to extinguish a blaze at a building at 203 S. Lucas St., which is located right next to the highway.
At 6:30 a.m., heavy smoke was still billowing from a building that appeared to be heavily damaged. The building had been home to multiple businesses in the community, including Expressions Floral.
At this time it is not known when the fire began, but Norfolk Fire and Rescue was called for mutual aid at about 12:13 a.m. Tuesday morning.
More information will be reported as it becomes available.
The Daily News and its sister radio station, WJAG, will be hosting a forum next week for the candidates running for elective office in contested races as part of the upcoming May primary election.
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