Fire Consumes Guymon Business

Lightning is being ruled as the cause of last night’s fire at 314 Northridge Circle.

Guymon Home Health and Hospice, EOG Resources and some Hitch offices called this location home. According to The Guymon Daily Herald, the fire is believed to have began around 9:30 p.m. and was finally contained around 2:00 a.m.

“Lightning struck the far northwest corner of the building,” said Guymon Fire Department (GFD) Assistant Chief Grant Wadley. “Numerous witnesses heard the thunder.”

When GFD first arrived on the scene, fire was coming from the roof. Wadley explains that it was an attic fire, which is a firefighter’s worse nightmare. One or two hours into the blaze, Wadley says there was a change of wind that turned the direction of the fire. It was then that the fire spread considerably and engulfed the front of the building. Firefighters were immediately pulled from the building and entered a defensive approach as a result.

A burglary that occurred Monday morning was looked into as part of the investigation. The State Fire Marshall was contacted and the GFD ruled that lightning was the cause. Wadley says that because there were witnesses and evidence of lightning, it was officially ruled the cause.

The City of Guymon Public Works Department, the gas and water department, Tri-County Electric, the Guymon Police Department, the Texas County Sheriff’s Department, Texas County District #2, the Goodwell Fire Department, the Optima Fire Department and the Guymon Fire Department were the agencies that worked the scene.

The entire building is destroyed and has been declared a loss but no injuries were reported as a result of the blaze. The total estimated loss is not known at this time. No other buildings were damaged.

The majority of the firefighters left the scene around 2:45 a.m. As of 10 a.m., the building was still smoldering and there were still hot spots. Wadley explained that a fire engine and ambulance remained on scene as hot spots had sparked up and could still possibly.

Highway 64 remained closed for nearly five hours as fire hydrants across the street were in full use to help extinguish the blaze. The highway was reopened around 2:30 a.m.

“If we wouldn’t be on the water restrictions, we would have run out of water real quick,” said Wadley.