An early Saturday morning fire has caused extensive damage to a prominent business in Galesburg.
Galesburg Firefighters were dispatched to Dave’s Autobody at 2171 Grand Avenue for the structure fire at 5:25 a.m.
Engine #52 arrived from the Brooks Street Station arrived within two minutes and found heavy black smoke coming from the Detail Shop at Dave’s.
The Detail shop is a stand-alone building that does not connect to the main building or the paint shop, and sits close to Grand Avenue.
The overhead doors were forced and cut open to gain access to the fire in the middle of the building. Fire personnel used three hoselines to get inside and bring the fire under control in about 30 minutes.
The fire had burned through the roof and according to Fire Chief Tom Simkins there was extensive structural, heat, and smoke damage to the building.
Seven vehicles were inside the building with various degrees of heat ans smoke damage. Dave Dunn, owner of Dave’s Autobody, says that these vehicle were not customer vehicles but actually part of their rental fleet.
Ameren Illinois killed power to the building, and City Street workers barricaded Grand Avenue from Ohio to Pennsylvania Avenues and detoured traffic away.
Fire crews used two hydrants to supply water to firefighters as they battled the blaze in freezing conditions. Water turned to ice on the roadways. Simkins says Street crews will be addressing this.
No injuries were reported, and fire investigators are on-scene to examine the origin of the fire.
