CLEVELAND, Ohio — An employee working at a former Cleveland paper company building started a large fire that destroyed one building and damaged another after the man began grilling hotdogs during his lunch break, officials said.
The employee cooked the hotdogs using a 55-gallon drum, which ignited the fire at the building that used to house the National Paper Packaging Company about 9:45 a.m. Saturday, according to Cleveland fire spokesman Larry Gray.
Gray said one firefighter injured his arms while breaking his fall. Gray said the firefighter couldn't see a sharp drop in the floor while entering the building in the 1200 block of East 55th Street. The firefighter was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center and the extent of his injuries are unknown.
"When you're dealing with heavy volumes of fire like we did today, it makes the situation tougher," Gray said. "Our guys did an outstanding job to keep the fire from spreading."
Gray said some 80 firefighters surrounded the building in order to determine how best to fight the blaze.
The building where the fire ignited sits behind another portion of the building that faces 55th Street. Firefighters quelled the blaze in the first building, but encountered collapsing walls in the back part of the building, Gray said.
The back building's roof and three walls collapsed during the fire. One wall collapsed on the front part of the building, Gray said.
Firefighters were sent around the building to Hamilton Avenue, where they attacked the fire. They also set up firefighters in an adjacent building because a catwalk connected the two buildings.
The front part of the building suffered smoke and fire damage but appears salvageable, Gray said. The back part of the building was destroyed.
The building was recently sold and the new owner was renovating the building, Gray said. The owner was clearing mounds of paper and debris from the building in order to transform the building into a machine shop, Gray said.
Paper products and wood pallets filled the building, which caused the fire to spread quickly. The brick building also caused the fire to burn hotter, Gray said. The smoke plumes could be seen for miles, as far away as Akron, Gray said.
Two employees were inside the building at the time of the fire. Gray said he was unsure exactly how the employee was using the drum to cook the hotdogs.
Gray said the new owner told investigators about the hot-dog cooking. He said investigators will try and verify the cause but that may prove difficult because of the extent of the fire but are viewing security videos from adjacent buildings.
"It brings a lesson to everyone," Gray said. "It's a moment that we can teach the public and all residents that you don't cook inside structures."
