Firefighters responded late Sunday night to a massive structure fire in the 600 block of Triplett Street, working through the early hours of Monday to contain the blaze at a commercial complex that formerly housed a laser tag facility and currently a tax office.
Battalion Chief of Training Corey Gant with the Owensboro Fire Department said the first 911 call came in around 11 p.m. Sunday from a nearby resident. The caller reported a warehouse on fire and was attempting to evacuate people and animals from the area.
Gant said when crews arrived on scene, they found heavy fire coming from the front of the building and had to navigate around overhead power lines. Within about 15 minutes of their arrival, the roof collapsed.
“We had nobody in the building when the roof came down, but it shows the fire had likely been burning for a while before anyone saw it and called,” Gant said.
The building — which Gant confirmed included the old laser tag location and an adjacent warehouse-style space used by a tax agency — was already heavily involved by the time crews arrived. He said firefighters went into defensive mode almost immediately due to the size and intensity of the fire.
“We started getting our aerials in place and just got as much water on it as we could,” Gant said. “At that point, our main goal was to contain it and prevent it from spreading to anything nearby.”
Gant said the department was flowing thousands of gallons of water per minute through aerial ladder trucks and hose lines on the ground.
The initial response came from Station 1, Engine 2, and Engine 4. Gant said the on-duty shift commander quickly called for a second alarm, which added another aerial truck and an additional engine to the response.
Public Works crews were also on site to help block roads, and Gant said several streets remained closed for hours. Owensboro Police Department, AMR, OMU, Atmos, and Spectrum also responded to assist with utility and safety concerns.
Later in the night, Gant said an excavator was brought in around 3 a.m. to help pull apart the collapsed metal roof, which was preventing crews from making further progress.
“It was hindering us from gaining access to the deeper parts of the fire, so we needed to tear it back to hit those hot spots,” Gant said.
Gant said he left the scene around 4:50 a.m. Monday, while crews remained on site spraying water and checking for flare-ups. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and an investigation is ongoing. Gant said the Owensboro Fire Department appreciates the support of all agencies involved in the overnight response.
