The Williams’ Bakery building adjacent to the northeast end of campus was damaged Monday night after a blaze spread through the factory’s ventilation system, causing employees to evacuate.
The Eugene Fire Department received word of the fire at 1760 E. 13th Ave. at 9:21 p.m. It started after flames escaped from a furnace in the building on University-owned property, Eugene District Fire Chief Randy DeWitt said.
“We haven’t started our actual investigation yet, but preliminary information was that it was accidental in nature,” he said. “They were working on a furnace and the fire took off into a flue area from the furnace.”
No one was injured in the fire.
Fire crews ripped out heating ducts and sheet rock to get at the blaze. Firefighters also used a ladder truck to access the roof, from which metallic shrieking sounds emanated as they worked to access the building.
“It is damaged as far as what we had to do to make sure we were getting ahead of the fire,” DeWitt said. “But as far as structural damage … the building is intact. There will be extensive cleanup inside, but it’s not like, you know, the structure has been burned down or anything like that. It should be back up and running relatively soon.”
Billows of smoke poured out of the west second-story door of the building as firefighters finished containing the blaze.
Fire crews cut power to at least some parts of the buildings, and flashlight beams were visible on the interior of the damaged and darkened second-story roof.
The fire was contained at 10:26 p.m.
The fire department will investigate further once crews ensure the fire is completely out, DeWitt said.
At least four fire trucks, two other fire department vehicles and three ambulances responded to the fire.
Several students from nearby Hamilton Complex emerged to watch the scene.
The University purchased the property Williams’ Bakery sits on in February 2005 for about $22.2 million but had not planned to use the complex until at least the middle of 2006 to allow the bakery time to relocate.
The bakery plans to relocate to the Glenwood area east of the University.
Contact the editor in chief at [email protected]