MUSKEGON, Mich. — Firefighters responded to a massive commercial fire in Muskegon Wednesday afternoon.
The fire happened in the 1600 block of Messler Street, according to the Muskegon Fire Department (MFD).
There was one man at the scene of the fire at the time — and a brave witness heard this man cry for help and went running into the fire.
The witness, Timothy Myer, told me, “We heard a pop of a propane can, and we saw a large black plume of clouds, and we walked down to the corner over here to see what happened.”
Without hesitation — Myer knew what he had to do. “I decided to hop the fence and try helping,” Myer said.
Thankfully, the lone man inside was able to get out by himself. Fire authorities say the man was welding and using a cutting torch when he noticed the wall behind him catch fire. The man managed to vacate the building unharmed. An explosion reportedly occurred shortly after.
Within moments, “We had heavy black smoke and heavy fire coming from the front of the building,” Paulson said.
According to Jay Paulson, Deputy Director of Fire in Muskegon, thick black smoke was a result of the type of business — a semi truck and trailer maintenance shop.
“There was a lot of tires stored inside, so that's where we had a lot of black smoke. We also had propane, acetylene and kerosene stored in there as well,” Paulson said.
Following the black smoke, “The building quickly caught on fire, and within ten minutes, the building was fully involved,” Paulson explained.
Damage to high voltage power lines caused a delay in getting water on the fire. Paulson said, “We had lines burned down in the back of the building, so we couldn't get to the back.”
Luckily, “We were able to get water on it and cool it down before the wires burned,” Paulson remarked.
By the time I spoke to Paulson, the fire department was in what they called salvage and overhaul mode. "We're going to have an excavator coming in. We're going to pull the walls down to get the rest of the fire out," Paulson said.
As for Myer and his heroic efforts at the scene — he is simply relieved that no person was injured.
“I just thank God for allowing that guy to get out safe, and I hope he's all right,” Myer said.
When I was last on the scene — a fire marshal had begun investigating to confirm the start of the fire.
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