By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

An early morning fire destroyed one building at the Heartland Truss Plant, 710 General Custer Road, and damaged a second building.

Hays City Firefighters initially responded to a 911 call at 4:40 a.m. Saturday. The caller thought the fire was in the trailer park on Reservation Road in south Hays.

According to Ellis County Rural Fire Director Dick Klaus, once HFD arrived, they found the fire was actually in the nearby truss plant, which is out of the city limits.

Ellis County rural fire units were then dispatched from companies 4, 5, 6, and 8. Ellis City and Victoria also responded. About 30 firefighters fought the blaze.

“It burned down and is a total loss but we were able to salvage the east building,” Klaus said.

Klaus expects the state fire marshal to be in Hays about 11 a.m. to investigate the scene.

A nearby resident, Dylan Thomas, said he “woke up thinking I heard thunder” but then fell back asleep. His wife Melanie woke him up again and said “there’s a fire and the fire department is here.”

The Thomas’s house is located less than 250 feet from the truss plant.

“We could feel the heat from the fire as we stood on our porch,” Dylan said.

There were no injuries.

Fire units remained on the scene at 9 this morning, still spraying water on the debris.

“We have a lot of mopping up to do,” Klaus said.