By Kalin Krohe, Panhandle Post
The Chadron Volunteer Fire Department responded to a structure fire on Feb. 28.
The fire at 346 Main Street started at approximately 7 p.m. and was under control at midnight. The 300 block of Main Street was closed down at the time of the fire.
"It was a single story commercial building," Chadron Fire Chief Branden Martens said. "Upon arrival there was heavy smoke and fire in the back of the building...alley side. With the way that the building was set up with brick and at least two different roofs, it made fighting the fire hard. With the different office rooms there was a lot of book cases, a lot of paper and things like that...that just kept smoldering."
The Nebraska State Fire Marshal determined the cause of the fire was electrical.
Chief Martens said most of the firefighters from the department helped fight the fire. There were six fire trucks used.
"The guys had a fight," Martens said. "That thing did not want to go out easy. We had two cascade systems...one on our rescue truck and one on our ladder truck. We used most of the air off both apparatuses last night. Most of the guys were five or eight bottles deep on fighting the fire. We had 45-minute bottles."
No one was harmed in the fire.
"The guys did a heck of a job," Martens added. "It was not an easy one. It was a hard fought fire and it was deep seeded. It was hard with all the different offices and all the different roofs that had been put on. It wasn't one that the guys could go in there and knock down quick. The way with the roof on top...it wasn't one we could put a guy on top safely and then ventilate it. It was like basically fighting inside on an oven box. The guys, they did it, they earned it last night."
The Chadron Volunteer Fire Department was assisted by the Chadron Police Department, City of Chadron Electric Department, Black Hills Energy and Nebraska State Patrol.