Odana building flares up again due to 'little ovens'

Bill Novak  —  8/14/2008 12:10 pm

File cabinets stuffed with paper files acted like "little ovens," resulting in flareups overnight and into Thursday morning in the aftermath of a blaze at an office building on Madison's far west side that caused likely millions of dollars in damage.

Madison Fire Department crews were still on the scene at 5 Odana Court Thursday morning, cleaning up after the spectacular fire which started early Wednesday morning, virtually destroying the offices of 4-C (Community Coordinated Child Care), and Lutheran Social Services, which leased space in the 4-C building.

The main fire was brought under control in a couple of hours, but fire crews had to put out flareups caused by the large amount of paper in the smoldering ruins. The fire was not totally put out until a backhoe was brought in to open up the rubble.

The fire was first reported at 4 a.m. Wednesday and quickly erupted into a blaze that shot flames up to 40 feet in the air and filled the far west side with smoke.

"The last flareup was at about 8 a.m. Thursday," said Madison Fire Department public information officer Lori Wirth. "It kept going for so long because of the amount of paper files."

Wirth said 4-C staff members were on the scene, happy to see some of the files were able to be salvaged once the rubble was pulled away by the backhoe and the cabinets were accessible.

She said people were sorting through the records to save as much as they could.

No cause of the fire has been determined yet, but Wirth said it most likely started near the center of the top floor of the two-story building.

Investigators from the Madison Fire Department, Madison Police Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were on the scene Wednesday and Thursday trying to determine how the fire started.

Fire department apparatus was expected to be removed from the scene by noon Thursday, Wirth said.

The total damage estimate hasn't been made, but the building itself has been assessed at $2.2 million.

Bill Novak  —  8/14/2008 12:10 pm