mendota

[chevyhd]

Does anybody have any info on I think the 5 alarm fire in mendota last night??

[jaybird210]

Saw a little blurb about this on the FH Fire Ticker this AM. Said there were TWO DOZEN FDs there (!). Friend of mine thought it was at some tool-making plant? He told me the name and now I've forgotten it already.....

[jaybird210]

From the Mendota News Tribune this morning:
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Blaze Engulfs Mendota Factory

A massive fire destroyed most of the Spartan Tool manufacturing building on the south edge of Mendota today.

Firefighters remained at Spartan Tool this morning. A complete report was not available, but those on the scene agreed there was serious damage to the structure.

“It’s a big loss, that’s for sure,” Mendota Alderman Del Knowlton said.

According to Mendota’s fire chief Dennis Rutishauser, a fire call came in about 2:47 a.m. Firefighters arrived to find the building already engulfed in flames.

Rutishauser said he did not know the cause of the fire.

By 7 a.m. almost all that was left of the factory was a charred skeleton of the parts assembly building and a stripe of smoke that streaked south over cornfields for miles.

It could have been worse — someone could have been seriously injured or even killed, the fire could have spread to nearby businesses or the fire could have taken place during the peak of this weekend’s Sweet Corn Festival when the streets were crowded with festival-goers.

It could have been worse, but it was bad enough.

While the business office building wasn’t damaged, it’s unlikely there will be much work for anyone without manufacturing going on.

Located at 1506 West Division St., the company manufactures parts for city sewers. Tom Franka, president of Spartan Tool, said it is too early to know what the company will do.

Franka said there are about 100 full-time employees of Spartan Tool, more than 60 in Mendota and approximately 30 outside sales people at other locations.

Rutishauser said a MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) call was placed, meaning all surrounding emergency services were called to the scene. By 7:30 a.m., water trucks from Oglesby, Tonica, Paw Paw, LaMoille, Cherry, West Brooklyn, Arlington, Spring Valley, Amboy, Utica, Compton, La Salle, Seatonville, Troy Grove, Peru, Ladd and Sublette, among others, lined up along 14th Avenue bringing full trucks of water to the smoldering fire.

Each truck would pull up, empty its load for the fire, and then head back to refill.

Additionally, various trucks were spread all around the building fighting the fire from different angles.

Traffic, for the most part, was able to flow through town, although cars could not go west of Route 251 or east of Sandra Street.

Nearly all the Spartan employees were on a regularly-scheduled vacation today because the plant was closed for one week. Now, they’re wondering how long their time away from work will last.

Thirty minutes after she was supposed to start her workday, Carla Schultz, who has worked in the building for 38 years, pointed to the machine shop to which she would have reported. The black, charred frame was all that was visible.

“There was a big wooden roof above that,” she said. “But it’s gone.”

Bill Trembly lived near the factory where he works and saw the flames through his kitchen window around 4 a.m.

“I painted parts way in the back part (of the factory),” he said as he watched the trucks bring water to the fire. “There’s nothing left back there.”

Now, Trembly wonders what will happen to his job, especially, he said, with his union contract up next May.

“The guy who owns this has places all over,” he said. “He can just pull up and leave. Hope he doesn’t.”

[Weruj1]

well I'll be ...................now thats a FUR ! .......glad that MABAS thing worked out !!!!!!!!!or sumpin !

[jstafrftr]

Mendota Fire.

I was at this fire in our tanker. We dropped three loads of water and were released.
Interesting thing about this is that our MABAS division, division 25, has been operating for about 2 years, and this was the first activation of the division. Should be some good conversation at the next MABAS meeting.

Ended up being 3 hours late for work...can't go on mutial aids during work anymore, but that is an entirely different story!!

[kprsn1]

jstafrftr

Don't you hate when that job thing gets in the way of a fire call? Been there myself a couple of times. Most notably when I was on a mutual aid call to Centralia that had a lumber yard on fire. Nobody complained much about me missing work since our department was helping out with handlines on the east side trying to keep my workplace's warehouse from catching fire and burning to the ground! Kind of changes their perspective, you know?