Clouds of acrid smoke and steam rise from the Central Chevrolet Oldsmobile (London) Ltd. building as London Firefighters aim hoses from the ground and from a snorkel truck in an effort to control a blaze which destroyed the landmark Thursday in less than three hours. Flames and smoke were visible throughout the downtown area. (Photo by Dick Wallace of The Free Press)
Three-hour fight halts spectacular blaze
Central Chev fire loss million
Employees of Central Chevrolet Oldsmobile (London) Ltd. were back on the job today to sift through the ashes from Thursday’s fire that ravaged the bulk of the company’s building.
General Manager George Stedelbauer said the company’s sales operation should be functioning Saturday following installation of two mobile trailers for use as temporary office space.
Fire Chief Ray Morley estimated the loss at more than $1 million. There were no injuries and all but four used cars were saved. (Complete coverage in pictures and stories on pages 12, 13 and 25.)
Today, Deputy Fire Chief Earl Fenwick confirmed a report that the fire was started by the acetylene torch of a welder working in the service storage area.
Deputy Chief Fenwick added that a full investigation into the fire has been launched by fire-prevention inspectors and Robert Kaufman of the Ontario fire marshal’s office.
He said investigators are checking a report there was a delay in firefighters being alerted to the fire because someone tried to extinguish it before calling in the alarm.
Deputy Chief Fenwick said firefighters moved as quickly as they could in getting firefighting equipment into play.
The first units that arrived, he said, had to rely on connecting hoses to the nearest hydrants which, he said, are four-inch mains and not capable of meeting the demands of bigger equipment, such as the “snorkel.”
The four-inch mains, he said, are only capable of supplying water at the rate of 600 gallons a minute. The “snorkel” requires pressure at 750 gallons a minute.
Firefighters, he said, were within a block of the bigger mains – at Talbot and Fullarton Streets and Dufferin Avenue and Richmond Street.
The fire, reported shortly before 1:30 p.m. ripped through the main part of the single-storey building at 128 Fullarton St. and sent a pillar of black, sooty smoke high above the centre of the city.
By 4:30 p.m., the main building was reduced to a mass of blackened rubble, contained within a shell of charred block walls.
An addition which houses the parts and service departments escaped serious damage.
Mr. Stedelbauer said he does not know when those departments will be back in operation.
Much depends on how quickly the Public Utilities Commission repairs damaged underground power lines, he said.
If power is restored by early next week there will not be any temporary layoffs. The firm employs about 100 persons.
Pay cheques destroyed in the fire were being replaced today. Employees were able to salvage only a portion of company records.
Mr. Stedelbauer remained convinced the company can maintain continuity of operation.
“But the fortunate thing is that nobody was hurt. The building can be fixed and the cars can be replaced,” he said.
PUC operations manager George Claxton said today he cannot estimate the dollar damage to PUC equipment.
However, he said power will be restored to the company when it is ready for it.
As flames poured from the rear of the main building into the showroom, salesmen scampered to the parked cars and drove furiously on to Fullarton Street and headed west to Talbot Street and away from the fire.
One employee said there was “a bang” from the area of an old disused body shop in the centre of the building at about 1:10 p.m.
She said the noise was followed by an odor of smoke and someone shouted to get the cars out of the building.
Mr. Stedelbauer said he was in his office when a female employee rushed in to tell him the place was on fire.
“It happened so fast, I could hardly believe it.”
He said his first move was to order all cars in the showroom to be driven out. Some were driven and some shoved outside by salesmen and other employees.
When flames eventually broke through the . . .
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