Firefighters battled a fire that partially collapsed the roof of Baker’s Auto on Route 44 in Putnam early Thursday morning and sent one firefighter to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
Around 11 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters were called to respond to the auto body shop that’s been in business for more than three decades.
Crews had to extend their hose lines for nearly a mile, to the area near Wendy’s, so Route 44 was closed from the Putnam Parkade to Thurber Road.
The firefighter who was injured slipped when water used to extinguish the fire turned to ice, fell and struck his forehead, fire officials said. He is expected to be OK.
Most of the fire was at the back of the shop, where most of the waste oil, gasoline and fuel are stored and the fire marshal believes that’s where the fire started.
"Once the fire got into that material, it ignited the vapors in the gas and then the fire took off," Putnam fire marshal Norm Perron said.
What’s not yet unclear is what started the fire and it will take a while to determine because of the extent of the damage.
Local
Officials have ruled out the fire being electrical and are leaning toward it being accidental.
The fire has been knocked down and most of the 12 departments called in for mutual aid have left the scene.
