Fire razes furniture store

Flames soar through the roof of Bedford Home Furnishings after a lightning strike Thursday afternoon. (T-G Photo by David Melson) [Click to enlarge]

Two of nature's most dangerous elements -- lightning and fire -- combined to blast Bedford Home Furnishings into a blazing, smoking inferno late Thursday afternoon.

Amazingly, owner Randy Hobson was unaware of the commotion outside his South Cannon Boulevard business as flames erupted following what is believed to have been a lightning strike around 5 p.m.

"Someone called and said the building was on fire," Hobson, who escaped uninjured, said. "I looked out the back door, saw flames everywhere and called 9-1-1."

Hobson said he attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher but it had already progressed too far.

Firefighters were eventually forced to abandon use of Shelbyville's snorkel after water pressure became too low to protect themselves from the fire's heat. (T-G Photo by David Melson) [Click to enlarge]

"A lightning strike went through the roof on the southeast corner of the building," Fire Chief John Habel said. "It spread into the warehouse and into a gap between the ceiling and the roof.

"The building was pretty much gone by the time we got there," Habel said.

Shelbyville's snorkel truck arrived a few moments later and was driven through pitch-black smoke to an area behind the building. Firefighters began spraying the roof from the snorkel's bucket.

But the ordeal was just beginning.

Water, in plentiful supply early on, began diminishing as pressure dropped. Ironically, Duck River is just a few feet away from the rear of the store.

"We had water at the start but the pressure fell," Habel said. "We could only get 2,000 gallons per minute. We needed at least 3,000."

Eventually, despite firefighters' best efforts, flames broke through the roof about 5:55 p.m.

With the building already a total loss, low water pressure forced firefighters to pull the snorkel truck away at the fire's peak.

"There was too much heat," Habel said. "We couldn't get enough water to keep the heat off."

The water situation was somewhat alleviated when Volunteer Fire Services Inc., personnel helped pump water from Duck River to the store.

Surprisingly, Hobson wasn't the only one near the store who didn't immediately realize what was happening. An employee of a neighboring plant nursery said he was on his computer and, despite sitting next to a large window facing the store, didn't notice the fire until the building was fully engulfed. Employees of a veterinary clinic across the street were also unaware of the situation for some time.

Those further away, as well as arriving firefighters and police officers, were very much aware of probably the smokiest fire to hit Shelbyville in many years. At one point Officer Bobby Peacock had to direct traffic -- without a mask -- through an almost impenetrable cloud of thick, black smoke.

The large plume could be seen practically city-wide, with a crowd quickly gathering in the parking lot just north of Veterans Memorial Bridge. Smoke was in the air over a mile away on Madison Street.

Firefighters finally brought the blaze under control about 8 p.m., or so they thought. The blaze flared up twice more, with a return visit needed about midnight today.