Early morning fire heavily damges Texas Spine & Joint Hospital facility in Longview

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - The Longview Fire Department was called out Tuesday morning to a structure fire at a Texas Spine & Joint Hospital facility in Longview located at 725 North 4th St.

An update on Tuesday afternoon from Fire Marshal Kevin May shared more details about the fire.

May wrote that at approximately 4:45 a.m. the Longview Fire Department responded to 725 North Fourth Street, Texas Spine and Joint Clinic, for a commercial business fire. The call was originally for glass breakage indicating a possible burglary in progress but when Longview police arrived on scene they found the building to be on fire.

Fire crews entered the building and found a fire had started in a rear electrical/mechanical room in an electrical cabinet that contained multiple batteries to operate as emergency back-up power for the sensitive equipment on premise, then spread into the attic. A second alarm was called immediate to increase the response of additional fire crews.

The fire was brought under control in about twenty minutes, but not before extensive heat and smoke damage was done throughout the building. The building was unoccupied at the time of the fire.

After the fire was extinguished, a civilian employee, who had responded to the scene, sustained a minor injury on scene, according to May.

The Longview Fire Department responded with four fire engines, two ladder trucks, one ambulance and four support vehicles.

The fire was not at the hospital. It was at one of the freestanding outpatient MRI Units in Longview. According to Jess Mowery, the regional director of marketing and clinic operations for the clinic, no patients were involved.

As of right now, the cause is undetermined but investigators with the department are on the scene gathering information.

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