Welding shop in Rigby engulfed by fire

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI)-A welding shop was engulfed in flames on Saturday night in Rigby between the 4000 E. And 4100 E. blocks.

The building is deemed a complete loss.

The Central Fire Department responded to calls at around 11:00 p.m. and several fire departments in the area were dispatched to assist in extinguishing the flames. "We were dispatched last night at about 11:12 p.m. for a shop on fire. I understand that somebody driving by on Highway 48 called it in. Upon our arrival, we found this shop and it was fully engulfed," said Central Fire District Fire Chief Carl Anderson.

Highway 48 was closed until 2:00 a.m. for crews to put out the fire. All four stations in the fire district were called to the scene. Rigby, Menan Ririe, and Lewisville responded with additional assistance from Ucon. "We had all four of those dispatched because of the magnitude of the fire. This shop, approximately 100 by 60, was fully engulfed. We have a subdivision next to it. I also called Ucon Fire for assistance, and upon arrival, we started extinguishing and started fighting the fire," said Anderson.

While the fire was out after 2 A.M. some lingering embers were still smoking. Anderson says that is normal with the magnitude of the fire. "You're always going to have some lingering smoke and lingering heat when we put a fire out. We want to put it out as much as possible. Sometimes we try to preserve some evidence so we don't dig a whole lot. But as you can see, this is a metal shed on a wood frame.
No injuries were reported. And we moved a lot of metal this morning after the fire. But we're always going to find a hot ember underneath a piece of metal, underneath a piece of equipment. But we don't have any thoughts of it moving anywhere or going anywhere," Anderson said.

Anderson is thankful for all the help from the fire department and other first responders.