Fire

damages

Sleepy Eye

business

Haala Truck &

Trailer Service

ignites Monday

morning

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- Donald Haala was grinding in his paint and welding shop on East Main Street Monday morning when suddenly things went awry.

Sparks struck aerosol paint cans, and they began exploding in the two buildings that housed Haala Truck and Trailer Service.

Haala jumped into a truck and drove it out of the garage. He tried to extinguish the blaze himself -- emptying three fire extinguishers -- to no avail. He called 911.

The fire grew after firefighters arrived shortly after the 7:45 a.m. call was received. Then some acetylene and oxygen tanks blew, creating large flames.

"The tanks intensified the fire quite a bit," Sleepy Eye Fire Chief Bob Zinniel said.

The welding tanks didn't fly around when they exploded, Haala said, although he had heard stories describing that phenomena in similar circumstances

"The valves on top of the tanks just popped off," Haala said, looking at the charred buildings as two firefighters stood watch over the buildings in a hook and ladder truck.

Fire trucks including the large ladder truck surrounded the business. Police directed highway traffic through a residential and retail area north of the highway. Semis crawled around tight corners as traffic backed up in both directions.

Firefighters left the business around noon. Zinniel lost a large air compressor on wheels and some tools in the blaze.

Much of the business site was a former Chevrolet dealership and that building was constructed of concrete block. A steel building east of the main building will have to be rebuilt, Zinniel said.

There was smoke damage to the concrete building, but a door between the two structures was closed during the blaze.