Garage fire Sunday

Marietta firefighters spray water on the structure fire at Ace Auto on Greene Street Sunday night. JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times
Marietta Fire Department spent about three hours fighting flames spouting from a Greene Street auto shop in Marietta Sunday night where the owner of Ace Auto made it out alive.
“I had dozed off in the office chair in the back after my buddies left to get another car,” said Shaun Gates, 35, of Marietta. “I was only asleep maybe 10 or 15 minutes but then I smelled smoke and could hear the crackling and ran into the room where the wood-burning stove was. It was filled with smoke though and it went so fast that I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t even find my phone so I just grabbed another phone and used the Wi-Fi to call 911.”
The structure at 1225 Greene Street started showing flames just after 4 p.m. Sunday and Marietta Police Department and MFD had the stretch of Greene between Alderman and Maine streets closed until just after 7 p.m. in order to fight the fire.
Gates said he used two fire extinguishers in his shop to try and fight the flames to no avail.
“Once the roof caught fire there was no stopping it,” he said. “Five other people’s vehicles were in there and my uncle’s tractor and my computers. Plus my partner’s 1948 Chrysler was in the back and my pickup truck was in there too with so many brand new parts and my buddy’s tools.”

Firefighters on scene said even with four hoses pumping water at full blast, the flames just seemed to continue to rise with all of the fuel inside.
“There were tires stored upstairs that I would sell to people for $20 a piece and the old wood rafters were so dry it all went up,” said Gates.
Fire Chief C.W. Durham said the flames were contained within an hour of trucks arriving on scene but with the amount of material in the building little fires continued to appear for another hour and a half.
“We’ll keep a truck out here for the rest of the night to monitor hot spots and make sure it doesn’t catch again,” said Durham. “We don’t believe there was malicious intent in this fire though and are glad Mr. Gates made it out safely.”
Bonnie, 58, and Jim Clift, 71, who live two doors down from the shop, heard the sirens of the fire trucks and then caught video of the flames just after the roof collapsed.
“The fire was reaching the trees,” said Bonnie. “It just kept growing.”
Gates’ friend Seth Mastrodomenico, 31, of Marietta, said the night’s fire was hard to bear after a year’s hard work to get the auto shop running.
“Shaun is the guy that would wake up in the middle of the night to help you if your truck broke down and he’d barely charge you,” said Mastrodomenico. “He’s really turned his life around and has been building this business, and we’ve tried to help him get where he needs to be. It’s a tragedy that it’s gone up in smoke.”
Gates, three years sober from drug addiction, said he has relied on his friends as he has built his business for the past year, slowly taking on more customers and working on restoring vintage cars.
“I catered to people who don’t have a lot of money, I just want to help and have the chance to make something of myself here,” he explained. “And I feel bad that all of these firefighters had to come out in the cold to put out a fire while standing in the snow.”
Marietta Fire Department also responded to a fire in Devola Friday night alongside volunteer fire departments from Devola, Fearing, Lowell and Adams townships.
“We got the call of a trailer fire around 10:30 p.m Friday night at 1790 Masonic Park Road,” said Devola Fire Chief Daniel Kilmer. “The one occupant living there was last I heard doing well after being life-lighted to Grant Medical in Columbus.”
Kilmer said the fire remains under investigation but speculated that an electric space heater in the residence may have been the cause of the fire.
“We don’t feel it was suspicious in nature,” said Kilmer. “And the fire was under control within half an hour.”
At a glance:
¯ Friday Fire:
– Location: 1790 Masonic Park Road, Devola.
– Time: Approximately 10:30 p.m.
– Female occupant life-lighted to Grant Medical in Columbus.
¯ Sunday Fire:
– Location: Ace Auto at 1225 Greene Street, Marietta.
– Time: Approximately 4 p.m.
– Single occupant sustained no injuries.
Source: Times research.
- Marietta firefighters spray water on the structure fire at Ace Auto on Greene Street Sunday night. JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times