It will be Wednesday morning before Gainesville Fire Marshals can begin to determine what caused a fire that gutted the former Chambers Lumber location in midtown Tuesday.
Fire Battalion Chief Keith Smith said Tuesday the building had been abandoned for quite some time and the fire spread very fast.
"Probably within 10 minutes the roof of the building collapsed in," said Smith. "It is about a 16,000 square-foot shop type business. They used to do cabinet making."
Aside from the structure, they are not sure what materials indoors might have fueled the fire.
"We are not exactly sure what all was inside the business," Smith said. "It was a wood framed structure, so it burned pretty quickly."
Smith said there are other businesses very close to the location and the damage from the massive fire could have been much worse.
"The Tire Barn is only about 20 yards away," Smith added. "This could have been much, much worse."
Jack Roper, one of the owners of The Tire Barn, which is located adjacent to the property, said he noticed flames and called 911 just after 2:30 p.m.
"There's just a driveway between our property line and that building," Roper said. "Fortunately, the wind was blowing the smoke away from us so we were not in danger of any direct flames. The heat from the fire, though, was incredibly intense."
Smith said the building was scheduled for demolition. The building was located on Bradford Street near Industrial Boulevard.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/12/743883/update-investigators-to-return-to-location-of-massive-gainesville-fire-wednesday