TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A fire early Monday morning in Terre Haute, Ind. destroyed the former ‘Cricket Box’ furniture store location on Wabash Avenue.
The fire took hours for crews to put out and also left a portion of Wabash Avenue closed until just before noon on Monday.
Terre Haute Fire Chief Bill Berry said cold weather made this fire much harder to handle.
“Obviously anytime it’s cold like this you know we get some hydrants that freeze up,” Berry said. “We had a hydrant across the road here that was broken. Then when we ended up finally getting the ladder set up we had some pumping problems and some issues. Just, water freezes.”
Berry said the building collapsed during the firefight. He said this was a likely outcome due to the buildings metal arch-shaped roof and that THFD puts the safety of his crew first.
“It’s a vacant building so we’re going to make a stance on the safety of our firefighters,” Berry said. “So, to go into something like that was engulfed as much as it was engulfed, and with the roofing system, we weren’t going to jeopardize any of our firefighters getting hurt.”
After 100,000 gallons of water was used and crews were on scene for nearly 10 hours, Berry praised the teamwork of the firefighters who put out the blaze.
“Battalion chief did a good job. Incident command made sure there was a collapse zone all the way around it,” he said. “That’s what we do every time. And of course, we’re always twice the distance of what the size the wall is.”
Although the fire is still under investigation, it is just one of a string of fires in the area over the course of the weekend. So, Berry said he wants to remind residents to keep an eye on heating sources throughout the season.
“The biggest thing is to not have them unattended,” he said. “You know the fires, the wood burners, fireplaces or whatever it may be. Always keep an eye on it and that’s where we’re having issues.”
Cricket Box moved to its current building at 29th and Wabash several years ago. That building was not damaged.
