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Extra-alarm fire strikes Franklin Park business
Firefighters battled an extra-alarm fire in an auto-repair building on the 3300 block of Mannheim Road in Franklin Park on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. | Chandler West~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 2, 2013 5:31PM
FRANKLIN PARK — Franklin Park firefighters were heading south over the Mannheim Road Bridge on an unrelated call Wednesday afternoon when a firefighter noticed smoke coming from a building directly to the east
“They asked if there was a report of a fire,” Chief Steve Iovinelli said. “Then they went there and, sure enough, there was.”
The fire took place at an auto body business on the 3300 block of Mannheim Road. The owner had been welding and took a break for lunch. When he returned to the shop floor he found it full of smoke.
“There were a lot of chemicals because it’s a body shop,” Iovinelli said. “Thinners, paints, solvents. There was so much fuel inside with the painting equipment, it took us a while to get it under control.”
No one was injured.
Though the business has a Lincoln Street address, it abuts the Mannheim Road Bridge.
“There’s five feet between the bridge abutment and the building,” Iovinelli said. “It took us a while to access.”
Police closed off northbound lanes on the Mannheim Bridge so firefighters could attack the fire from above. Fire vehicles on the bridge pumped water down onto the roof of the building.
It took firefighters about one-and-a-half hours to get the fire under control. While the building was badly damaged, firefighters prevented an adjacent building from catching on fire.
Firefighters were on the scene about three hours in all, until about 4:30 p.m.
The extra-alarm blaze drew firefighters from several nearby towns to help put out the fire.
