By: Paul Hamby
Source: Billings Gazette, Mont.
Jul. 30—A warehouse that caught fire Saturday afternoon caused first responders to close off a block of Downtown Billings to traffic for several hours.
The fire gutted a structure on the 500 block of North 26th Street, near the Yellowstone Art Museum, between Fourth and Sixth Avenue North.
Crews with the Billings Fire Department responded to the fire around 3:30 p.m. Flames were enveloping a portion of the building facing North 26th Street, and shooting out of pockets in the roof. Firefighters extinguished most of the fire within minutes. They ripped down a garage door and eventually gained access to the building, extinguishing any remaining embers. There were no injuries due to the fire, BFD Cpt. Matt Meeker told the Gazette at the scene.
There is no indication at this time what caused the fire, Meeker said, and a fire marshal has been assigned to investigate.
The warehouse is located in a lot across the street from the YAM. It neighbors a parking lot to its north. To its south is the YAM's Visible Vault, a renovated warehouse that houses the museum's permanent collection. While it is unknown if anyone was occupying the warehouse when it caught fire, the property on which the warehouse sits is owned by a company called Security Bridge LLC, based out of Billings, according to online records.
A fire decimated a South Side auto shop earlier this week, with two Billings firefighters needing to go to the hospital for exhaustion before crews brought it under control. It also caused an estimated $850,000 in damage, according to a statement from BFD, and its cause still has yet to be determined.
The fire, located along the narrow 200 block of Hall Avenue, also exhausted BFD personnel and equipment, with six engines among the vehicles that responded. Only one engine was left to respond to calls in the rest of Billings, BDF Battalion Chief Darrek Mitchell previously told the Gazette. At least five engines responded to the fire on North 26th Street on Saturday.
Saturday's fire also occurred within eyeshot of where a brush fire started July 1. The bushes lining what used to be a Denny's restaurant on N. 27th Street caught fire, creating a wall of flames that were doused by BFD crews before they caused any major damage to the unoccupied building.
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