Warehouse inferno leaves $100,000 plus in damage; machinery ruined

SALT LAKE CITY — A warehouse suffered more than $100,000 in damage when a fire roared through the building Thursday night.

Witnesses called dispatchers just after 9 p.m. saying flames were coming out the top of the building at 650 S. Delong St. (2105 West). When fire crews arrived, they quickly called for more trucks as flames spewed out the first garage of the building where the fire had already damaged machinery, said Salt Lake fire spokesman Scott Freitag.

Officials were initially concerned because the fire was coming dangerously close to petroleum tanks, both inside and outside the warehouse. The substance is one of the ingredients of the rubberized sealant the warehouse Maxwell Products Inc. produces. The sealant is used to fill cracks in roads, Freitag said.

Fire crews were able to get the fire under control within 20 minutes of arrival but continued to battle hot spots for another couple of hours.

It is unknown what caused the fire, which officials believe originated in the main warehouse away from offices. The fire damaged about 1,000 square feet of the 7,500-square-foot building.

The warehouse was empty of people, with the last employee leaving around 6 or 7 p.m. No one was injured.

Freitag said the fire caused damage "into the hundreds of thousands of dollars" but said it was hard to estimate just how much Thursday night.

Some of the residue of the sealant product did land in a large pool of water outside the building. Officials said they have made sure none of the product would contaminate other water. Crews will most likely evaporate the water and then clean up the residue, Freitag said.

Officials with Salt Lake Valley Health Department arrived on scene because of the residue and the petroleum that had been close to the fire.

"It's standard procedure," Freitag said. "We always call them when there's oil at a fire. There's still a lot of hazardous materials on scene. But no oil made it into any water sources."

e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com