No injuries reported
Several area fire departments responded Thursday night to a fire at Golden Rule Lumber, Hardware & Rental in Ottawa after dispatch received a call reporting smoke billowing from one of the buildings in the lumber yard.
“They’ve been doing a good job containing the fire to the east end of the building,” Ottawa Fire Chief Andy Borkowski said about an hour after the initial call at 10:01 p.m.
The large Morton-style building, marked as building number three, is located within the fenced-in lumber yard at 1021 Fosse Road on Ottawa’s South Side. Two commercial tenants rent part of the building, Stanley Steemer and a trucking company. Smoke could be seen billowing from the building with flames visible along the soffit.
Borkowski said in addition to Ottawa, departments from Grand Ridge, Marseilles, Naplate, Serena, Sheridan, Streator, Wallace and Utica responded. Ameren also was at the scene. He said the large number of additional crews were called in for precautionary reasons due to the location being a lumber yard.
No injuries were reported. Borkowski said he anticipated crews working through the night. He said it is too early to determine the cause of the fire or estimate the amount of damage.
