Fire Damages Gas Station Building

A one-alarm fire caused an estimated 60-thousand dollars in damage to the building housing the Airport 76 Gas and Market at 1729 NE Cornell Road Thursday.

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Two residents of an apartment complex behind the gas station ran into the facility to report the fire to the employees inside. All employees and customers of the store escaped unharmed.

Firefighters from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue responded to the blaze at 2:36 pm. The first arriving company, Engine 5 from the Parkwood Station, found heavy fire and thick black smoke coming from a storage area behind the building. They quickly deployed two hose lines and began attacking the flames. Moments later, the flames burned through the electrical service line feeding the building dropping the energized wires onto one of the fire hoses. Firefighters had to abandon that hose and pull additional lines to continue fighting the fire. Despite the hazard, they brought the flames under control in about 14-minutes. Damage was confined to the rear storage area and wall of the building with some fire damage in the ceiling area nearest the fire. Additionally, the building and products inside suffered some light smoke damage.

The fire produced such thick black smoke outside that at least two neighboring businesses chose to temporarily close and evacuated their buildings. Public safety officers did not order their evacuation. The businesses reopened after firefighters had the blaze under control. Fire investigators are interviewing witnesses and examining evidence at the scene in an effort to determine a cause for the fire.