C Shift Assists with Cedar Park Fire
April 10, 2008
C Shift firefighters from Station Two were called to assist the Cedar Park Fire Department with a commercial structure fire last week. Here is the story on the fire from the Hill Country News.
The Cedar Park Fire Department was called to a large structure fire one block east of the U.S. Highway 183 and New Hope Road intersection, near the Block House Creek subdivision at approximately 2:55 p.m.
Cedar Park Fire Chief Chris Connealy said the the call came in as an explosion and “we arrived to heavy fire.”
All four Cedar Park units and backup help from Leander, Jollyville and Sam Bass departments were able to get contain the fire in the west side of the building. “We were going to make an internal attack, but there was too much of a fire hazard,” said Connealy.
Connealy sent crews into the east side of the building to put out any hot spots, but the “west side was declared defensive,” meaning the area was too unsafe to allow crews in the building.
The fire was extinguished in about 25 minutes and the fire departments were “trying to get to all the hot spots,” said Connealy.
The west side of the building was taped off because the outer wall had shifted and Connealy said there was “a concern that the wall might collapse.”
Connealy said the east side of the building, where Guaranteed Screenprinting & More is located, only suffered smoke damage, but there is “significant fire damage on the west.”
The building’s owner, Joe Zsebenyi, said the building is leased to Oscar Renda Contracting, who is doing the construction on New Hope Road.
Jimmy Wood, foreman for Oscar Renda, said the space was being used as a storage facility and a field office. The fire is believed to have started in the storage facility where pipes, tools and other equipment are stored.
The Oscar Renda crews were working near Bagdad Road at the time of the fire and no one was in the building, said Wood.
Ryan Hitchcock, general manager at Lawton Commercial Services, which is located two doors down from the facility, said he heard a loud noise, like a “board falling off a shelf,” but didn’t think much about it. About 45 minutes later he heard a louder sound like an explosion. That’s when Hitchcock went out of his office and saw smoke coming from the building.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, but the fire will be investigated.
Read Friday’s Weekender edition of the Hill Country News for more details and photos from this fire.
E-mail: jennifer@hillcountrynews.com
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