NAMPA, Idaho (CBS2) — Crossroads Towing & Salvage in Nampa is left picking up the pieces after a massive fire engulfed its headquarters.
The owners say they will rebuild and remain open. The fire started nearly without warning. It took only six minutes for this steel building to be completely burned out from the inside.
TJ Biggers owns Crossroads with his wife.
He used to work as a wildland firefighter, but not even he's heard of the method of burn that consumed his building.
"The fire department describes it to us as jet fueling," Biggers said. "A refrigerator ignited fumes, which caused a chain reaction and basically burned down my entire business here."
Miraculously no one was hurt, apart from a few minor scrapes and burns. With fire season ramping up, crews say it's important to know how to respond to different types of fires.
There's a significant difference between how firefighters respond to a structure fire and a wildfire.
"Absolutely, yeah," said Nampa Fire Battalion Chief Eric White. "We take different vehicles. We have different crew arrangements. It's completely different."
It took only minutes for the entire business to go up in flames. Fire crews say it could have spread to Caldwell Boulevard and the surrounding junkyard, as well.
In addition to the towing operation, Biggers has about a dozen acres of scraped cars that he keeps as part of their salvage work.
If the fire had spread, it may have destroyed the fleet and become uncontrollable in the process. Thankfully, it looks like Biggers and his crew will be able to recover.
"Well we're insured," Biggers said. "We have decent insurance. I don't know if it's gonna cover everything. I'm concerned about the men's tools that they had in my shop. Some of my stuff will be covered. Theirs won't."
"We did extensive overhaul operations to make sure that we got all the hot spots taken care of and there's nothing left burning," said White.
As of now, the team is focused on cleaning up what's left of their headquarters. While the cleanup process continues, crossroads towing and salvage will keep serving customers.
Its field operations won't be affected, because the tow trucks were spared from the blaze.
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