A Beeville fireman was sent to the emergency room at Christus Spohn Hospital Beeville Friday afternoon after being overcome by the heat of a fire at the Wastequip May Fab offices at 100 Industrial Blvd.

The fireman, Marco Garcia, was upstairs in the back of a building where records are stored “when the heat got to him,” said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Burris of the Beeville Volunteer Fire Department.

Burris said Garcia was treated and released. He said the second story in the rear of the building had no ventilation and the heat built up quickly in that part of the structure.

Garcia was only one of several firemen who braved thick smoke and staggering heat to stop the fire.

One police officer, Patrolman Mark Cruz, rushed into the building to make sure no one was inside when he first arrived at the scene. He had been told by employees that someone might have been in that part of the building.

Cruz told his sergeant, Chris Vasquez, that he went up the stairs shouting to see if anybody might have been in that part of the building before the thick smoke forced him out.

Fire Chief Donald C. Morris took charge of the firefighting effort with the assistance of Burris and Assistant Fire Chief Lanny Holland.

Morris said he was not sure what caused the fire but the flames were hard to reach because they had gotten inside the wall in the back of the building.

Office workers evacuated the building and stood in the parking lot outside the front door as firemen tried to extinguish the blaze.

Burris, who led some of the firefighting efforts inside the building, said it appeared that the fire could have been started by a cigarette. Morris agreed, saying the fire apparently started outside the building in an area where employees congregate to smoke.

Burris said firemen found a plastic container, possibly a bucket, that might have been used to extinguish cigarettes.

Fire Marshal Ken Orrell was contacted this week and he confirmed what they said.

“There was a mop bucket outside filled with trash,” Orrell said. “Apparently somebody threw a cigarette into the trash and set it on fire.”

Orrell said the company’s accounting office was located downstairs in that part of the building and the upper floor was used for storing paper records. He said that part of the building sustained most of the damage.

According to a report on file at the C.M. Smitty Smith Fire Station, the fire moved quickly through the wall to the second story at the rear of the building where company records were kept. The fire was described as “very hot.”

Efforts to open a large, overhead door so firemen could get to the flames failed. At one point, a Wastequip employee used a forklift to try to open the large door. But that effort failed as well.

One employee said the chain that lifted the door could have been locked in place.

Eventually firemen used an ax to cut through the metal door so water lines could be run through it to the second floor of the building.

Fortunately, no one other than Garcia suffered any injuries.

Burris said this week that damage to the structure was limited, but smoke and water damage to its contents could be extensive.