Neighbours near an industrial fire in Windsor are breathing easier today.
Following an exhaustive 20 hours of fighting a stubborn fire at a commercial building at Gel-Tech on Argyle Rd. near Ottawa St, fire crews officially declared the fire out at 7:30am Thursday.
They were called around 11am Wednesday to the building which Trimhouse Co-owner Carlo Cicconi says was partially rented for race cars.
"It was just a guy who had a race shop and had a couple of race cars," he says.
According to a Facebook post, the renter, who chose not to be interviewed says “several vehicles were lost including our dragster project and some parts and pieces.” But Windsor Fire Prevention Officer John Lee says he has been told all vehicles were removed.
Cicconi says at first, all he could see was smoke, but then flames erupted around 3pm.
An investigator with the Ontario Fire Marshall's office will arrive on scene Thursday afternoon to determine the origin and cause.
Cicconi says his building escaped any damage.
"We were just hoping the wind didn't shift because then it would probably have been a different story here."
He says at first, it was just a lot of smoke.
"We never seen a flame until about 3 o'clock, then at 3 o'clock they had something happen and a roof collapsed or a wall collapsed and that's when we actually could see flames outside the unit and the fire escalated rather quickly after that."
The remains of an industrial building on Argyle Rd. in Windsor, destroyed by a large fire. September 20, 2018 (Photo by Teresinha Medeiros)
The Market Square and Classic Bingo has re-opened after being evacuated around 4pm Wednesday.
The walls of the building remain standing, but the roof has collapsed — it was up for sale for $1.95-million.
For 20 hours, 60 firefighters attacked the blaze — dumping the equivalent of 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools on the inferno.
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