Overnight Fire Destroys Business

A raging fire wrecked a Catoosa factory on Wednesday night.  It happened in a busy industrial park just east of Tulsa.  The News On 6's Steve Berg reports it was a huge fire and Catoosa firefighters say it's a prime reason why they need more people.

Joe Bushyhead has been a delivery man for Fiber Pad for the past three years, but with the fire, he's temporarily out of work.

"Come to work every day, building's here.  Everybody shows up, building's laying on the ground," said Bushyhead.  "It's gone."

And it could have been worse.

Fiber Pad splits its work between two factories, manufacturing customized plastics that burn extremely hot and the fear was the fire would get the second building.

"Just because it was such a large fire.  I was very concerned with the surrounding property being damaged.  But they were able to keep it under control," said Fiber Pad owner Don Law.

Don Law had high praise for the Catoosa Fire Department, which, as we reported more than a year-and-a-half ago, has just three full-time firefighters.

Catoosa firefighter Jason Rogers says that hasn't changed.

"I think everybody understands that and realizes the need for more manpower," said Rogers.  "As well as the equipment that we need."

Rogers says the biggest help from Tulsa came from their ladder truck.

"We had to get up high on the building, so we used their truck, and their truck helped us tremendously," said Rogers.

Rogers says they respond to hundreds more calls than other towns their size.

In fact they had to cut their interview short with The News On 6 because they had to respond to a call.

Rogers says there has been more talk about increasing the size of the department.  And he's hopeful that will happen soon.

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