CLINTON — Firefighters this morning cut a hole in the roof of the former fire department headquarters as smoke continued from a Christmas Eve fire.
The fire caused $200,000 to $300,000 damage to the public works garage and to equipment at 210 Mill St., public works Director Roger Johnson said. The building is one of two public works garages in the village.
The hole in the roof likely will add to the damage total, Chief John Rindfleisch said.
The fire started Wednesday afternoon in the cab of a pickup truck. The cause is unknown but not suspicious, Rindfleisch said.
“Those guys need those trucks. They need them all,” Rindfleisch said. “We’ve had no problems with employees or anything like that.”
The fire was smoldering by the time firefighters got the call, Rindfleisch said. Public works employees got done working about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, he said. The fire likely burned very hot from 4 to 5 p.m., he said.
“By the time we got there, there was not a lot of flame but a lot of heat,” Rindfleisch said. “It had burned itself out.”
A Clinton police officer reported the fire at 6 p.m., according to a news release from the Clinton Fire Department.
Structural and water damage were light, according to the news release. The building’s rubber roof still held snow this morning.
The fire destroyed the truck in which it started and damaged a squad car, a street sweeper, two utility trucks and a sewer jet, Johnson said.
Two of the village’s three plow trucks avoided damage, so Johnson expects no problems with winter plowing.
He and Rindfleisch will work with the village’s insurance company to learn if the equipment will be replaced or repaired.
Crews from Sharon, Turtle, Beloit, Walworth and town of Beloit assisted on Christmas Eve, and crews were on scene for two hours, according to a news release from the Clinton Fire Department.
At 8:20 this morning, Clinton crews returned to find the ceiling smoking. Crews pulled down ceiling material and cut a hole in the roof to vent smoke, Rindfleisch said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation.
The building housed the village fire department from 1962 until 1999.