Nov. 09--The city of Burlington won't know how much monetary loss a fire Thursday night in the city garage caused until its insurance company has evaluated the damage, but it's certain three garbage trucks are a total loss.

Fire and police departments responded to the Public Works Department's sanitation division at 206 E. Summit Ave. late Thursday after a deputy with the Alamance County Sheriff's Office called in a fire at 10:04 p.m.

Capt. Chad Slaughter with the Burlington Police Department said the deputy had just finished refueling his vehicle at the adjacent station used by the sheriff's office, Burlington police and fire fleets, when he saw the garage fire.

Burlington police and fire investigators as well as the SBI are investigating the fire, Fire Chief Jay Smith said. It's customary to call in the SBI when a fire causes a large loss, damages a building's structure or involves the city's property, he said.

Fifteen garbage trucks were parked under the shelter at the sanitation division when the fire started, Smith said. Ten of them received varying levels of damage.

"Out of that 10, three of them are essentially destroyed," he said.

Though not totaled, the other seven damaged garbage trucks "could have tires scorched, windshields cracked, mirrors melted, stuff like that," Smith said.

Public Works Director Nolan Kirkman said Thursday night that the three destroyed garbage trucks were Bandits, the type with an arm that loads garbage into the truck. He said brand new Bandits are approximately $250,000 each, but the trucks that have been destroyed and damaged were older.

On Friday, Kirkman estimated the fire caused at least $200,000 in damage, including damage to the garage structure.

He said more than likely the city will receive insurance money for the damaged trucks. Burlington has maintenance budgets to offset the costs of repairs -- but nothing's set in stone yet.

"I think by next week we'll have a much better picture of the financials," Kirkman said.

Friday morning's sanitation operations weren't affected.

"Operations have been good today," Kirkman said. "We should have enough Bandits to run all the routes, and enough other trucks to handle the yard waste and bulk collections."

Copyright 2013 - Times-News, Burlington, N.C.