UPDATED A fire destroyed the hangar at the Monmouth Municipal Airport on Friday morning.
Chief Casey Rexroat says at 5:54am it was reported that heavy smoke was coming from the hangar and main office. Firefighters arriving at the scene found that the hangar had become fully involved.
A request for mutual aid was made and additional departments responded to the scene. The fire was isolated to the main structure which served as an aircraft hangar and administrative office.
10 aircraft, which are valued at over $750,000, were inside the structure when the fire started, and Rexroat tells WGIL that made conditions for putting out the fire difficult enough.
“We didn’t know how the planes would react to the fire,” says Rexroat. “Obviously, we were worried about explosions and things like that — which we did have a few, but I’m not sure if those came from the airplanes, or maybe they had something else stored in the building that exploded during the fire. We did have a small explosion, and it blew part of the roof off at one point. As far as I know, the planes didn’t really explode themselves, but they did burn up in there.”
Two of the planes were able to be recovered, Rexroat says.
Within three hours, the scene was contained and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
Officials say three water main breaks were indirectly caused by firefighting efforts, and city crews are working to fix those.
Mayor Rod Davies says he hopes operations at the airport can resume sooner rather than later.
Responding to the scene were the Cameron and Kirkwood Fire Departments, Roseville Fire, Avon Fire, Abingdon Fire, Alexis Fire, Biggsville Fire, Oquawka Fire, Little York Fire, Swan Creek Fire, Smithshire Fire, the Monmouth Police Department, and the Galesburg Hospital Ambulance Service.
Tune in to Galesburg’s Evening News Friday at 5pm for interviews with Monmouth Mayor Rod Davies, Chief Casey Rexroat, and others from the scene of the fire.
(Photos from Monmouth Fire Department)
