Fire in Troy Consumes Storage Building

Fire in Troy Consumes Storage Building
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Nov. 4, 2015)
A pillar of black smoke could be seen for miles as a building used for storage burned at 1300 Coolidge Highway in Troy, located between Maple Road and the Troy Airport. The long narrow shed, made mainly of wood and sheets of rusty metal, temporarily housed furniture and office supplies for a company that was preparing to move into the main building on the property, according to workers who had been at the building doing maintenance.
1300 Coolidge once housed Vehma Manufacturing, which closed that location in 2004 and laid off over 70 workers due to economic challenges at the time, according to Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth records.  The property had been vacant since, and was likely recently purchased since sale listings say it is no longer available.
Troy Fire Chief Dave Roberts said his department got the call at 2:48pm on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 about the fire. He said that the building was not occupied and there were no injuries.
The two alarm fire caused the department to send firefighters from 3 of the 6 fire stations. Troy is a department manned mainly by volunteers, and over 40 came out through the afternoon to fight the fire.
A subsequent fire also happened in a nearby parking lot. According to Chief Roberts “a truck caught on fire so we are looking at two fires. We’re not sure yet if something from this fire caused the other fire. We still need to do the investigation.”
The bulk of the building burned quickly, but as the sun went down the firefighters were still dealing with the smoldering debris and pockets of flames. “
What they’ve got to do now is pull the pieces out and soak them with water. It’s a lot of manual labor, but that’s how we make sure it’s out,” Chief Roberts said. He ordered a backhoe brought in to help with moving the building’s and content’s remains.
The main building at 1300 Coolidge was not damaged in the fire.
This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
Check out our previous oc115.com story about fire departments in the area that got together for a fire truck night, including the Troy Fire Department, at https://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/10/13/troy-rochester-rochester-hills-oakland-twp/.

Save this post to PDFPrint this post