Auburn firefighters credited mutual aid and community support following a fire Saturday that destroyed Auburn Auto buildings and threatened a Highway 136 Block of commercial buildings.
Firefighters called for help from Peru, Johnson and Nebraska City shortly after receiving the alert to smoke at 6:15 p.m. and arrived to find roof structures already collapsing.
Assistant Fire Chief Chris Jobe said he was told that there were an estimated 1,500 gallons of oil, as well as tires and unleaded fuel, inside the building complex. There were also 11 cars inside. Jobe said the fire was intensely hot. Windshield glass was melting, which is associated with 2,600 degrees or hotter.
Another dozen cars parked around the building were burned, melted or were crushed by falling walls. A classic Oldsmobile Cutlass owned by Roger Henderson was pushed from the building to safety on Central Avenue.