By Kalin Krohe, Panhandle Post
An accidental fire in the roof of the BNSF terminal building in Alliance left millions in estimated damage on April 11.
The Alliance Fire Department was called to the BNSF terminal building, also known as the yard office, at 12:20 p.m. for a fire.
Alliance Fire Chief Troy Shoemaker said firefighters from his department found the blaze in between the metallic roof and a roof membrane in the area where the roof met the exterior wall of the tower structure.
Alliance Volunteer Fire Department worked the wind-driven exterior fire with mutual aid provided by Hemingford Volunteer Fire Department.
"The flames continued toward the southeast corner of the building and was extinguished several hours later, even as the department had to respond to an EMS call...as well as a possible corn field fire in the southwestern part of the county that included a response from Hemingford and the Bayard Fire Department," Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker said the overall potential damage caused by the fire and response was set at about $3 million.
"Structural damage to the roof comprised only about $100,000 of the damage, with the rest primarily water and smoke damage to the interior and contents," Shoemaker said. "The fire originated near a drain on the roof...and with the damage to membrane and insulation, every drop of water poured onto the roof to fight the flames entered the interior."
Shoemaker said in addition to damage to sheetrock, AFD officials and the State Fire Marshal estimated potential damage to sensitive electronics inside the building at $2 million. That figure will have to be finalized by BNSF.
"There were some silver linings, in that there were no injuries to either BNSF or fire personnel," Shoemaker said. "Railroad officials were able to retrieve some equipment deemed very important to their duties out of the Alliance facility. Terminal officials say some vital equipment was not touched by the water, including some of the signal and switching equipment used by staff."
AVFD and HVFD cleared the scene at approximately 5 p.m.