On May 19, a fire broke out on Main Street in Creighton, burning and destroying multiple buildings.
Ten area fire stations assisted, including the fire force from Crofton.
Officials are still actively investigating the cause of this large fire.
According to the Creighton Volunteer Fire Department, the original call came to the department at 2:30am to a massive fire on Main Street.
It got to a point where surrounding stations needed to be called in. Crofton Volunteer Fire Department was one of the local agencies to respond to the call.
“The call came in at 4:04 a.m. on Tuesday May 19 for mutual aid of water tankers to assist from the Crofton Volunteer Fire Dept,” commented Crofton Fire Chief Brett Luebbe, “We sent 6 firefighters and three fire trucks to the call.” The crew remained at the site of fire until 6 pm.
The day was deemed to be long for all departments as the fire continuously burned throughout the day, using many gallons of water and putting a water advisory on the city of Creighton.
Three buildings were destroyed directly by the fire, with other nearby buildings being indirectly damaged through smoke and water. Over 1 million gallons of water were used with some crews using 4,000 gallons a minute per the Creighton Fire Department reports. The Crofton Fire Department alone hauled 30,000 gallons for them.
Over eight pumper trucks were used during the fire in addition to 25 tanker trucks, and 17 additional tankers that hauled water from 11 different locations.
It was no doubt this fire was a challenge for the community. The fire roared on for 16 hours, maxing out the city’s water supply, and instilled fear of nearby businesses being destroyed, including a nearby firework business that was only a couple storefronts down.
Creighton Community Schools called off school for the day in order to conserve water.
No one was injured in the fire. The fire started on 816 Main Street and spread to other buildings from there. The tenants in one of the buildings had to evacuate but there were no reports of injury.
Wind and proximity were the main reasons why the fire spread to multiple buildings.
The roof ended up collapsing on the burned building, but the cause of the fire is still being investigated as of publishing this week's edition.