Lila Plake
August 13, 2007
Saints work on special teams errors
August 15, 2007
Local collision shop owner Glynn Matherne estimates nearly $300,000 worth of damages and losses to his business in a mid-day blaze Monday afternoon.
The estimate damages included the loss of two personal vehicles, seven customer vehicles and more than $50,000 in supplies.
Matherne Auto Art: Body and Paint Specialist of Houma on Louisiana Highway 182 internally burned as volunteer fire departments and the local fire department spent hours snuffing out the blaze externally.
“We are trying to control the burn to lessen the hazards on the environment,” said Bayou Cane Fire Chief Jerry Gautreaux on the scene. “We are letting the building burn and slowly putting out the hot spots.”
With nine cars filled with gasoline presently inside the building, Gautreaux said he didn’t suspect that the building would explode. However, when they arrived on the scene shortly after noon, the fire chief did hear some popping and sizzling sounds.
When the fire was first detected, Matherne and his son, Troy, who is co-owner of the establishment, were rounding the side of the building looking at a vehicle when he said he smelled something burning.
They immediately went to the back of the building, checking any possible causes for the smokey ordor. Matherne or the fire chief couldn’t determine the cause of the blaze as of press time Monday.
“It wasn’t 10 minutes after we noticed the smoky smell before we started seeing the flames,” he said. “Me and my son grabbed the fire extinguisher and tried to put out the flames. But that didn’t help.”
During this time, Matherne’s ex-wife was fixing lunch in the kitchen area of the building and Matt Dupre, an employee, was returning from lunch.
Matherne said he immediately evacuated his family and workers and called 911 to dispatch the closest fire department, which would have been Houma Fire Department.
Instead, the first responder was Coteau-Bayou Blue Volunteer Fire Department.
The volunteer fire department was unable to control the fully-involved fire alone. Coteau-Bayou Blue Fire Chief Russell Di Salvo Jr. said he dispatched for additional help, calling in volunteer fire departments from Little Caillou, Bayou Cane and the City of Houma
Shortly after the arrival of the other fire departments, the roof collapsed.
Di Salvo said no personnel were allowed inside the building because of the danger. Instead, the firemen took an outside defense attack on the building with hand-held hoses and the ladder and hose.
Di Salvo counted more than 70 firemen who responded. He said, “These firemen are taking a beating from the atmosphere’s 90-degree temperature and the building’s heat.”
The firemen were placed on a rotational schedule to keep them hydrated.
The fire chief didn’t think they needed to call additional volunteer fire departments from Lafourche Parish or other areas of Terrebonne. He said they were OK with the manpower they had.
Watching the blaze from a distance was Troy Hebert of Worth Supplies in Houma, one of Matherne Auto’s suppliers as well as a family friend. Hebert was on the scene for about an hour and said when he arrived at the building, he saw it was a completely engulfed in flames.
“Glynn and Troy are not just my business associates they are my friends,” Hebert said. “And I came to see if they were OK.”
Amelia Clark, whose son is a volunteer fireman, was on the scene helping many of the firemen remain cool in the sweltering heat. “I was in the car with my son Jerry Jr. when he got the page,” she said. “We came directly over here and he went work.”
The local Office of Emergency Preparedness as well as the state and local police departments were contacted for clean-up and proper evacuation of the roadways after the blaze subsides.
At approximately 6:30 p.m. a family member reported that the fire was out and the roadway was cleared.
Firefighters search for fire at Matherne Auto Art: Body and Paint Specialist of Houma on Louisiana Highway 182 Monday. * Photo by BRIAN FONTENOT
