This article was originally published in The Examiner on Jan. 4, 2018.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
An unoccupied bicycle and heater repair shop building closed for several years went up in flames, becoming a two-alarm fire Tuesday.
Firefighters arrived at the scene and called the first alarm at 9:04 a.m. and the second alarm at 9:30 a.m. because of the size of the fire Tuesday, Jan. 2 at the bicycle repair shop in the 2300 block of Park Street, Beaumont Fire-Rescue Captain Jimmy Blanchard said in a news release.
“Beaumont Fire-Rescue responded to a two-alarm fire early in the new year,” Blanchard said.
The fire caused damage to the houses on either side of the bicycle repair shop, Beaumont Fire-Rescue Captain Brad Penisson said.
The shop had been closed since the owner had died and the owner’s son was maintaining the property, Penisson said.
Blanchard said 2017 ended with Beaumont Fire-Rescue having an increase in calls for the third year in a row. The total number of firefighter calls in 2017 was 19,406, which includes residential and commercial structure fires and vehicle fires.
“A large number of these calls are medical in nature, which Beaumont Fire-Rescue covers with its partners from Beaumont EMS and other private EMS providers,” Blanchard said.
In 2015, there were 17,290 total calls for Beaumont Fire-Rescue, and 18,985 total calls in 2016.
Eleanor Skelton 