A fire in Colfax on Wednesday night injured two firefighters and totaled a storage unit and everything inside.
Colfax Fire Chief Ralph Walters said the fire started after 5 p.m. at a storage building on State Highway 26 west of Colfax. The first engine was able to extinguish most of the flames, which had fully engulfed the building by the time emergency personnel arrived, but the fire reignited before tenders arrived with more water.
Volunteer firefighters from Whitman County Fire District 11 arrived and assisted in putting out the fire by about 8 p.m., Walters said, but two firefighters received thermal burns from radiant heat in the blaze. The injured firefighters, from Colfax and Diamond, were treated at Whitman Hospital and released the same night. They were back at work Thursday afternoon.
Walters said the storage unit that caught fire had been housing two 4-wheelers with a Caterpillar attachment, a Sea Ray boat, a Wellcraft boat, an Adirondack travel trailer and a Porsche Carrera. All were reportedly damaged beyond repair from the flames.
Walters said there is no estimated damage cost yet.
"We're going to have to sit down and look at the estimate of each vehicle. It's going to be extensive, though," Walters said.
Fire officials were still investigating the cause of the fire Thursday. Walters said they should have a cause in the next few days.
Copyright 2012 - Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
