Fire again strikes Nelson Tire & Auto in Charles City

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Firefighters spent several hours Monday evening battling a blaze inside Nelson Tire & Auto on Gilbert Street in Charles City.

The Charles City department was called at about 6 p.m. Monday, and when firefighters arrived there were wisps of smoke escaping from vents and from the roof, but when a door was opened a huge cloud of thick, acrid black smoke billowed out.

Much of the fire seemed confined to an office area above the main floor office, and eventually fire broke through the roof in the southeast part of the building facing Gilbert and Illinois streets.

There was no official information available on the incident at presstime Monday evening, but from observation it was apparent there was severe fire, water and smoke damage throughout the building.

On scanner traffic, fire departments began reporting that they were leaving the scene a little before 9 p.m.

Nelson Tire & Auto had previously been significantly damaged by a fire on Good Friday in April 2018, but went through a major renovation and was able to reopen again that June.

At that time, business owner Dave Martin explained the fire was caused by a cellphone that exploded and set some nearby chemicals ablaze on the shop’s upper floor.

Monday evening, firefighters from Charles City, Floyd, Colwell, Nashua, Marble Rock and Rockford eventually answered the call, bringing almost 20 trucks to the scene.

At one point aerial units from Charles City and Floyd were both attacking the fire from the roof as up to three additional hoses were hitting it inside and outside the building on the ground.

An attempt was made to siphon water from Sherman’s Creek, which runs under Gilbert Street into the Cedar River, to provide a blast of water, but that effort was eventually abandoned.

One person was taken away by ambulance after firefighters had been there about an hour and 15 minutes, but there were no details available as of presstime Monday evening on the person’s identify or the reason he was taken away.