A fire burned down part of the office at the former Palazzolo Food Warehouse that had been converted into a home at 208 Dimick Saturday morning.
Firemen first received the alarm at 7:16 and didn’t clear the scene until 11:30 am.
The building is now owned by Dan Ramey and used as a warehouse for the Centralia Home Center. One of his employees, Jay Dehn, lived in the home and escaped without injury.
Centralia Fire Chief John Lynch says the fire broke through the roof shortly after arriving indicating the fire had been burning for some time before being discovered.
“The front half of what used to be the offices have been converted into a living area. An employee lives here that works at the Centralia Home Center. This building serves as an overflow for the home center so it has all types of materials that they sell. It is full in the warehouse. We were able to keep it in the residential section of the building. The occupant woke up this morning and smelled smoke, and saw some orange glow in a room off the garage. He tried to get it out. He was unable to get it out. He then called the fire department.”
Firemen eventually brought in a backhoe to tear down about a quarter of the home to put out the fire since it had a metal roof that would not let the flames through. The cause of the fire will go down as undetermined but is believed to have started in the utility room of the home.
The Centralia City Fire Department called for mutual aid assistance from Sandoval, Salem, and the Centralia Fire Protection District on the scene and Odin to provide coverage at their downtown Centralia station.
Another view of the early firefighting effort at the former Plastiflex facility at 208 Dimick in Centralia. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
Firemen bring the fire under control at the former Palazzolo Food facility at 208 Dimick in Centralia. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
