SCRANTON — When a large warehouse containing paints and other flammable liquids caught fire in Scranton Monday night, the Region V Hazardous Materials Response Team, headquartered in Fort Dodge, was called to the scene.
The fire was reported at New Way Trucks, 101 State St., located in Greene County.
The warehouse is almost 49 miles from the Fort Dodge Fire Department.
Multiple fire departments were dispatched at 11:23 p.m. Monday.
No injuries were reported, according to Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams.
At 12:23 a.m. Tuesday, the Hazmat team was called.
“The fire chief knew there was larger quantities of flammable liquids, so he called for technical assistance and advice,” Fort Dodge Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter said.
Hergenreter said by the time the Hazmat team arrived on scene, the fire was under control.
“The local fire departments did an outstanding job of putting out the fire,”Hergenreter said.
The Hazmat team consulted with the incident commander at the scene.
“They wanted us there in case things got worse,” Hergenreter said. “But they were able to prevent it from spreading.”
Williams reported significant damage to the paint area of the building, where the fire started.
“The rest of the building just had some smoke damage,” Williams said.
The cause of the fire is not considered suspicious.
“They were painting some small parts with an electrostatic paint system,”Williams said. “It arced and caught the paint on fire.”
Williams added, “He went to spray more paint and ignited the paint with the arc.”
Firefighters were on scene for about five hours, Williams reported.
Firefighters from Scranton, Jefferson, Grand Junction, Glidden, Ralston and Carroll responded.