LAPORTE ― Firefighters from multiple agencies worked through the night to gain control of a blaze that destroyed a several-hundred-foot-long vacant factory building in LaPorte’s downtown area.
Flames from the former American Rubber plant at 315 Brighton St. lit up the night sky and were still visible after sunrise.
Kellyanne Harwood of 414 Brighton St. said she was getting ready for bed when she heard the approaching sirens of numerous emergency responders after midnight.
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Harwood said she looked out her window and saw heavy smoke coming from the building, then flames once she made the short walk to the scene.
“I never seen anything like that in my life,” she said. “They were just blasting the flames with water, and the flames just kept getting higher and coming out of the building.”
Harwood said she also heard what sounded like mild explosions.
“It was scary,” she said.
The building started to collapse
Firefighters were also focused on making sure the flames didn’t spread to a water tower in the middle of the horseshoe-shaped complex in the residential neighborhood along the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
Josh Montemayor owns nearby Mickey’s Bar on Tipton St.
He witnessed parts of the fire-ravaged building cave in after learning about the blaze from customers walking into his establishment and going to the scene.
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“The building started collapsing on the front end,” he said. “Just now on the back end it started collapsing.”
Montemayor also complimented firefighters for keeping the fire contained to the property.
A cause has not yet been given
Ricky Probst of 507 Brighton St. said the size of the fire caught him by surprise after social media notified him about the blaze.
“There were flames coming out the windows and everything else in there,” he said.
Firefighters from LaPorte and other surrounding agencies, including Center Township, Coolspring Township and Kankakee Township responded to the fire.
So far, no indications have been given on the cause of the blaze.
