Fire engulfs St. Helens' Les Schwab, closes portion of Hwy 30
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ST. HELENS, Ore. – Thick black smoke billowed into the sky over this town Friday afternoon and could be seen for miles as a fire ripped through the Les Schwab Tire Center here.
The fire forced Hood to Coast relay participants to detour and closed down a portion a major thoroughfare, disrupting traffic.
About 30 firefighters from four agencies attacked it from various angles as flames ate holes into the walls of the building and eventually collapsed the roof. Crews brought in 10,000 feet of hose to reach city hydrants.
The fire was called in just after 4 p.m. and quickly went to two alarms. It forced the closure of Highway 30 from Millard Road to Gable Road as crews worked to fight the blaze.
The highway is the same route that runners are taking for the Hood to Coast relay. Participants are being detoured onto Millard Road, according to a race organizer.
Buses with Columbia County River Transit are also being detoured around the area, officials with that agency said.
Columbia River PUD had to cut power to a power line in front of the building to make it safer for fire crews to continue to fight the fire. About 850 PUD customers, that included a few businesses, lost power when power was cut to that line. At about 6:30 crews were able to reroute power and get the power back on to all but 40 customers. According to the utility, those customers will be without power until firefighters determine it is safe to "re-energize" the line in front of Les Schwab.
Employees at the Les Schwab first became aware there was a problem when a customer told them their building was on fire, according to Ronda Melton, spokeswoman with Scappoose Fire.
"The manager and another worker grabbed fire extinguishers. The manager ran outside, he saw fire in the grass area, was extinguishing it with an extinguisher, thinking that was it. And then he looked up, fire was coming out of the roof of the back corner," she said.
She said everyone got out of the building and there were no injuries.
A cause has not yet been determined.
Four cars were in for service when the fire started, including a Columbia County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicle, according to the sheriff. All four were destroyed.
The lead response agency was Columbia River Fire & Rescue. It was assisted by units from Scappoose, Clatskanie and the Oregon Department of Forestry, which kept an eye on surrounding grass to ensure it didn't catch fire.
Melton said the fire was under control by about 6:30 and a short time later the black suffocating smoke was replaced with wisps of white. It was expected that firefighters would be on scene well into the night to keep an eye on smoldering areas.
The building is a total loss.
KATU News reporter Meghan Kalkstein contributed to this report.
Video of the fire from Brent Violette:
Looks like it started in the grass and then quickly spread to Les Schwab. Too early to say, but it makes me wonder if its yet another careless smoker-caused grass fire.  If you're going to smoke in your care, then use the ash tray. Only a fool would throw their cigarette out the window.
Wow I cant believe they didnt put any ads in this video amazing katu you guys are getting better, now quit putting ads in your videos and people might actually watch them you spammers
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I am appalled by the attitudes of the hood to coast runners at the "inconvenience" that this fire gave them. I understand that this is something that they train for for a long time, but it wasn't like this is something that we planned on having. I understand that they do bring in quite a bit of funds during the race to local businesses, but the amount of dishevel that they bring to the town each and every year is unreal. We graciously allow them to come and disrupt the community with support vehicles that have zero respect for the residents and drivers in town, yet when a tragedy like this happens all they can do is be concerned with a different route. They weren't concerned with whether or not anyone was hurt, nor with the impact that this is going to have on our community because of jobs that are now lost due to this. Nope, not concerned with these aspects at all....all they were concerned about was that they would have to run a slightly different route. The organizers of the race did this for their safety as well, they closed down Millard road to all traffic other than the hood to coast runners/walkers and support vehicles. They weren't even concerned about how that would impact our community as well. I mean, we had Hgw 30 in both directions closed and the Millard road route...just think of all the people that were trying to get home from work that were made to change routes. Very frustrating that even though we give them so much support for this race the majority of the contestants were bitter. I seriously think there needs to be an apology.
@April H What are you talking about? Where does it say Hood to Coast runners are complaining? The only complaining I hear are from the same old fuddy-duddies who *itch and moan every stinking year about Hood to Coast runners "ruining" their communities. It's nothing but a bunch of hogwash. I volunteered with HtC last year in Mist, OR and what I saw was a very well organized event that was full of people who were completely respectful of the private property, and very thankful to all those, such as myself, who volunteered our time. This is not to say that misdeeds by runners doesn't happen, and I certainly wish that wasn't the case.  But those are the rare exceptions to the norm. The worst behavior I saw was from drivers who couldn't be bothered to slow down when the roads were lined with hundreds of people. The real problem isn't the HtC runners, but it's the people who feel like they are entitled to not have to share the road with anyone or be inconvenienced by this event. HtC is a GREAT opportunity to make your community shine and be welcoming to folks who train for years and travel from all over the world to participate. Instead, too many local people's attitudes are so repulsive and, frankly, ugly that it makes me embarrassed to have grown up in Columbia County.
I think arson investigators should look into the fact that a new Les Schwab was just built in neighboring Scappoose, and this outlet was probably not going to be needed. Â Seems pretty convenient to me.
@lrymac That sounds like an accusation. Are you thinking this was an inside job? That anyone in their right mind would risk the employees and customers lives, and the loss of customer vehicles by starting a fire in an occupied building? You really are a cynical person. These people just lost their livlihood, try to show some compassion.
I live in St. Helens and it was very disappointing on many levels to hear the news stations being more concerned about the hood to coast runners and how it 'affected' them then the employees, customers, and people who live in the vicinity.Â
I just hope the customers who pick-up their car with New tires, at the end of the day, got them out before the flames hit.....not a great way to start the weekend...(Les Schwab lobby popcorn was toast)
 @bat54 One news story said four cars were a total loss (probably ones being worked on at the time).Â
 @Jenni S. wow  4 cars that is a shame, I'm sure Les Schwab is insured and they always fix flat tires for FREE.
On another station all they were reporting about were how the Hood to Coast runners were boo hooing about being inconvenienced by the fire. I feel more badly about the workers who were misplaced and the customers who lost their cars being worked on.
 @JLO I've seen nothing of the sort, and in fact I've seen quite the opposite: the HtC runners and organization actually speaking out in support of Les Schwab, who was one of the corporate sponsors of HtC.