Crews called to fire at abandoned warehouse in Dayton

UPDATE @ 8:13 p.m.

A suspicious fire this afternoon at a multi-story abandoned warehouse was potentially hazardous to city firefighters.

Crews were called around 3:45 p.m. to the warehouse on East Fourth Street near Wayne Avenue.

“On arrival we found that the penthouse structure up on the roof was fully involved in flames,” said Battalion Chief Vincent Wiley of the Dayton Fire Department. “Now, fortunately, this building’s been extensively preplanned and we know that there are a lot of open elevator shafts, unguarded holes and vertical shoots in this building — very hazardous in low-light conditions. However, we also know that there’s homeless people that use this building all the time, especially the penthouse on the roof.”

A team of firefighters went inside to search for any people inside. They quickly came back out when no one was found, Wiley said.

Crews then set up two aerial operations and hit the penthouse.

They were able to put out the fire, and it didn’t have extension into the building, he said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

“Of course it’s suspicious. There’s no gas service, no electrical service,” Wiley said.

Had the fire extended into the facility, the battalion chief said: “we would just let it burn.”

The building has a placard that marks it as nonentry for fire crews.

“Given the fact there’s nothing to save here, there’s a high potential for injury it’s really not a good idea to put anyone inside,” he said.

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FIRST REPORT

Flames and black smoke were shooting from the roof of an abandoned warehouse this afternoon just east of the Oregon District.

Crews were called around 3:45 p.m. to a building at East Fourth Street and Wayne Avenue.

We’re on the scene and will update this report as we learn details.