MANSFIELD — A huge cloud of black smoke rose up from Tucker Brothers Auto Wrecking Tuesday as more than a dozen firefighters battled a fire involving an open air building and a large stack of cars at 760 Hickory Lane.
As of 3:30 p.m., Madison Township fire chief Ron Luttrell said, there were no injuries to report.
“I’d like to keep it that way,” he said.
The Madison Township Fire Department responded to the fire at 1:50 p.m. Ninety minutes later units from Mifflin, Monroe Township, Springfield and Franklin townships were on the scene, along with firefighters from Mansfield, Madison and Mifflin Township still fighting the blaze.
“Upon arrival, our units found heavy smoke, heavy fire coming from the structure,” Madison Township fire chief Ron Luttrell. “It was reported that there were people working in there right before the fire started. They were cutting on the vehicles and trying to salvage parts off the vehicle.”
The chief spoke with an employee who saw a “trickle of fire shoot across the floor,” likely following a trail of gasoline.
“He wasn’t able to put the fire out, and it quickly escalated,” Luttrell said.
Nearby on Hickory Lane, John Knight said he heard several loud pops and then saw flames.
“If any of you guys had seen it at the beginning, it was crazy,” Knight said. “The flames were as high as that white cloud. I looked out and said ‘Dear Lord.'”
Occasional popping sounds could still be heard an hour after the fire began. At that time, the open air structure was deemed a “total loss” by Luttrell.
The stack of nearby cars continued to burn. As machines moved still flaming vehicles away. Water was shuttled in from hydrants further down Hickory Lane and a fire engine sprayed down the remaining stack.
Luttrell explained how this helped firefighters extinguish the pockets of fire within the pile.
“It can be really hard for us to get into,” he said.
Fires like this aren’t unique, but the Tuesday fire was harder to put out than the last similar fire he recalled putting out. That one was at Tucker’s last winter and involved “maybe 15 cars.”
