Shelby-Benona Fire Department photo
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
NEW ERA — Firefighters’ quick actions saved a historic hardware store from burning down Thursday afternoon, May 8. A store employee received burns to his hand, however.
Fire crews from Shelby-Benona, Grant Township and Hart departments responded to a fire at Veltman Hardware store, at 4736 First St., in downtown New Era at 3:30 p.m.
Shelby-Benona Fire Department photo
“It started in the basement,” said Shelby-Benona Fire Chief Jack White. “They were working on a lawnmower, and they appeared to have a pan of gas and oil that they drained out of the mower, and something sparked it, and the pan caught fire and spread to the wall and spread up. It burned a bunch of stuff on the walls and some other materials in the basement. It filled up with smoke pretty good. But, they should be open today.”
The employee who suffered burns was apparently working on the lawn mower, said the chief.
“There was some smoke on the main floor, but that was because the door between the basement and first floor was open. So, obviously the smoke went up from the first floor to the second floor.”
A significant amount of water was not needed to fight the fire, White said, with only two water lines used. “It was mostly ventilating the building — we had to open up the floor in one spot.”
The obstacle was having enough personnel on scene due to a forest fire happening simultaneously. “It was a little challenging, because Grant and Ferry are the first two departments to assist me on that, and Ferry was tied up on a woods fire on 144th Avenue, and Grant was out there helping them. We were in the station clearing up from a grass fire we had, so we got out the door pretty quick. I got my engine out right away. Before I left the station, I called for Hart (fire department) right away, because I knew we were going to be short on people.”
Veltman Hardware Facebook photo
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