BLAZE GUTS BUILDING IN BLAND

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992                   TAG: 9201100397
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: BASTIAN                                LENGTH: Short
BLAZE GUTS BUILDING IN BLAND
Fire destroyed a tire rehabilitation building Wednesday morning in Bland County and sent a column of thick, black smoke from Bastian across Interstate 77 for most of the day.
An employee said the fire apparently started from a spark during the grinding of a wheel in the building on U.S. 52. Speculation was that it may have ignited coal dust that coated many of the tires brought in for work.
Three or four employees were in the shop at the time, but they all escaped without injury.
Turner & Black Mining Tire Co. took tires used by the coal industry as well as some farm tires, filled them with a chemical substance and mounted them on rims for reuse. The company is based in Wytheville but had been operating in the building purchased in Bastian five or six years ago.
A couple of other employees recently had been laid off.
Chemicals inside the building caused several small explosions after the fire started about 8:30 a.m. Firefighters from Bland County and neighboring Giles County kept the fire from spreading to neighboring homes or farm buildings.
State police closed several miles of U.S. 52. Two hoses taking water from a nearby creek were laid in the road to the fire, which was still burning in the afternoon.
Hazardous-materials teams were working to keep liquid residue from the heat of the fire from draining into nearby Wolf Creek.
The fire caused a power failure for several hours in the Bastian area when Appalachian Power Co. lines became affected. Telephones also were out for a while.
The tire company is owned by Sid Turner and Rick Black.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB