A bedroom fire at Northwest Community Services — previously known as the Marshall Habilitation Center — Saturday, June 25, could have resulted in more damage than was done.
According to the Marshall Fire Department, firefighters arrived to a call at NCS shortly before 6 p.m., seeing light smoke. The incident occurred in unit 221, and the unit’s sprinkler system had activated by the time MFD arrived.
“We were there for a while, because of the water damage,” Marshall Fire Chief Tony Day said, indicating there was more water damage than fire damage because the sprinklers “did their job.” MFD started ventilation, removed burnt clothing from the residential unit and turned the scene over to maintenance once they confirmed the fire was out.
After further investigation into the cause of the fire, one of the residents admitted to setting her clothes on fire and flushing the lighter down a toilet, Day said. In addition to destroying clothes, the fire burned the armoire they were stored in and scorched the walls, but not badly. MFD left the scene at 7:15 p.m.
There was an estimated property loss of $10,000, and content loss was estimated at $3,000.
Northwest Community Services, a developmental disability facility, is located at 700 E. Slater Street, in north Marshall.
Hutchinson police investigators think a Hutchinson college student was experimenting with mixing chemicals to create an explosion when he caused a fire in his Plaza Towers apartment Tuesday evening. Local authorities also contacted Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after their investigation revealed the man was sharing his knowledge in chemical bomb making with people in other states, Hutchinson Police Detective Jamie Schoenhoff said.
Police arrested Chase Lee Coble, 22, on suspicion of aggravated arson in an occupied building, unlawful possession of explosives in an occupied building, conspiracy to commit use of explosives and felony criminal damage to property. He has not yet made a court appearance and remains jailed on $12,500 bond.
Firefighters responded to Coble’s apartment at the Plaza Towers, 17 E. Second Ave., at about 4 p.m. after a fire triggered the building’s sprinkler system. The fire itself was small, said Deputy Fire Chief Doug Hanen, and was confined to the top of an upright freezer. He estimated damage from water to the apartment, however, at $4,000 to $5,000.
“After the fire department responded, they discovered numerous chemicals in the apartment they thought might have been meth-lab-related,” Schoenhoff said. “Due to my past history with investigating meth labs, I quickly observed it was not a meth lab but something, in my opinion, more nefarious.”
Police called the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which in turn contacted the South Central Region Homeland Security Hazmat Response Team. All of the chemicals were collected and properly disposed of, Schoenhoff said.
“Mr. Coble is a student at (Hutchinson Community College) majoring in chemistry,” Schoenhoff said. “He’s attended several colleges in other states, in the same major.”
He came to Hutchinson from Salina about a year ago, the detective said. In talking with Coble and finding items throughout the apartment, they identified at least three chemicals that when mixed with others would create an explosion of flash fire, Schoenhoff said.
“That created a danger to all the occupants of the building,” he said.
The 12-story building has 63 apartments. There also were indications in the apartment that there had been previous fires or explosions there, Schoenhoff said, though none resulted in firefighters responding or significant damage.
“Of equal concern, he’d been communicating with individuals in other states with reference to giving advice and detailing how to make chemical explosives,” he said.
At least one such contact was in Minnesota. That information, he said, led investigators to contact the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI.
Investigators seized at least 10 computer servers from the apartment, though all “went through the sprinkler system shower,” he said.
“Right now, we’re handling it at the state level, but everyone is interested in the computer analysis.”
The chemicals, for the most part, Schoenhoff said, are items anyone can purchase and none was illegal in itself to own. The problem, he said, is in mixing them, and Coble admitted to attempting to create explosives.
“He knew his stuff, as far as chemicals and reactions,” Schoenhoff said. “He gave different reasons, some legitimate reasons, as to why he was trying to experiment.”
Police arrested Coble last month on suspicion of driving under the influence and battery on a law enforcement officer, Schoenhoff said.
About 240 workers were evacuated from the General Motors Spring Hill Manufacturing Facility on Wednesday after a fire broke out on the third floor of one of its production buildings.
Six Columbia and four Spring Hill fire trucks responded to the scene, Columbia Assistant Fire Chief Tim Holt said.
Firefighters received the call at 3:03 p.m. and rushed to GM’s body shop off Nashville Highway and Saturn Parkway.
Crews found an air-handling machine on fire, spreading smoke in the building, Holt said.
“We got it knocked down quickly, within 15 minutes,” Holt said. “The sprinkler system helped keep the fire in place.”
One GM security guard on the scene was treated for smoke inhalation, he said.
The incident likely was caused by welding sparks, which caught cardboard on fire, Holt said.
Columbia’s fire department had 16 firefighters on scene.
GM spokesman Tom W. Wickham said the body shop was closed for the rest of Wednesday evening and will reopen Thursday morning.
“We had to clean up a lot of water and debris,” Wickham said.
A similar incident brought fire crews to the GM plant just after midnight May 20. No one was hurt then, but the building was evacuated.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
