During supper Saturday night the fire alarm sound and Tisdale residents immediately became aware that this was no drill as everyone could see smoke billowing upward from the down town area.
The GT Mechanical shop, across from the town offices had a fire that seemed to have started in the building's South East corner and spread across the ceiling and into the roof. With the fire department less then a block away the volunteer department had their equipment in place and immediately began to struggle with the stubborn blaze.
Being an open area fire can
Having
excellent equipment and firemen trained to handle that equipment makes the difference
between watching a fire and putting one out. The Tisdale Fire Department had the
services of two excellent pumpers to give them the water they needed and with four
Scott Pac equipped fire fighters they could enter the smoke filled building and cool
down the high temperature areas. Using lots of water they were able to extinguish the area where the fire began quickly but the heat had moved across the ceiling and affect the West side kindling material between the ceiling and the roof.
About twelve firefighters worked on the fire dragging equipment out of the shop, dashing up and down the ladders and hosing down the smoldering fire that could easily have consummed the building had the fire department not had the jump on it from the very beginning. Damage to the structure was confined to the South wall, roof and ceiling along the South side. Damage inside the building will take some time to assess. A late model Pontiac is unlikely to be repaired because it sustained such serious damage but most of the heavy equipment in the shop should be unaffected by the fire.
