No injuries were reported in the fire, but about 15 people were evacuated from nearby buildings, authorities said. A cause of the fire, which was reported about 2:45 a.m., was not immediately known.
The building housing Petro Tire Co. and an adjacent tire storage warehouse containing more than 1,000 tires were both total losses, Fire Chief Lonnie Eberhardt said.
Shelley Williams, director of the nearby Margaret Cooper Public Library, said numerous windows at the library were cracked by the heat from the fire and the building sustained smoke damage.
The library in the city of about 6,000 people about 30 miles southeast of Terre Haute was expected to be closed until Tuesday for cleanup.
``It could have been a whole lot worse for us,'' Williams said. ``Everything we have in here is paper and wood.''
An investigator with the state fire marshal's office was expected to examine the scene on Thursday to help determine the cause of the fire.
Officials with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management also were expected to inspect the fire scene because of the large number of tires stored in the buildings.
