A spectacular fire Saturday afternoon gutted a former industrial building near I-75 and the Ottawa River and kept Toledo firefighters busy for hours with cleanup afterward.

Brilliant flames shot from the building that once belonged to the Toledo Pressed Steel Corp. on Phillips Avenue, with smoke visible from several miles away. The burning building could be seen from nearby I-75, but smoke was blowing away from the freeway.

Multiple @ToledoFire units working on industrial fire near Phillips Avenue. pic.twitter.com/MCuRV3051r

— Brooks Sutherland ⚔️ (@bsutherlt) January 25, 2020

Even after the fire was knocked down, Phillips and southbound Detroit Avenue remained closed well after dark while crews searched the premises for hot spots. 

The first engine companies were sent to the location at 397 Phillips shortly after 3:30 p.m., and a second alarm went out around 3:50.

“As far as we know, it’s unoccupied,” Deputy Fire Chief Damon Williams said at the scene. “It’s a Code Red for us, which means we don’t go in because of the fire in 2018.”

Walter Norris, owner of neighboring Valley Plastics Co., said he remembered that earlier fire, which he believed was started by homeless people living inside the building. Security cameras from his property showed fire trucks, so he went to the scene.

Lucas County land records list the property’s current owner as W.A.P. Inc., which bought it for $100,000 in 2005. Until 1988 it belonged to Toledo Pressed Steel, which was best known for manufacturing the Toledo torch, also known as a smudge pot, which was commonly used during the mid-20th century as a warning device around street and sidewalk construction sites.

First Published January 25, 2020, 9:05 p.m.