Corbin tire shop damaged by fire early Tuesday

A Corbin tire shop is still operating despite an early morning fire that kept responders busy for nearly two hours Tuesday.
According to an incident report from the Corbin Fire Department, the Corbin dispatchers received a report of a fire at Southside Tire, located at 1103 South Main St. in Corbin, 4:24 a.m. and were on the scene just minutes later. Fourteen firefighters responded to the scene, including several off duty firemen that had been paged regarding the fire.

According to the report, filed by Cpt. Eric Isom, responders first thought they were responding to an incident involving some burning tires. While en route, the fire department was told that a Corbin Police Cpl. Rob Hodge had determined that the building was on fire as well, at which time more men were dispatched to the scene.

The report goes on to say that after extinguishing the fire and doing what they called salvage and overhaul, the scene was turned over to the on call detective with the Corbin Police Department.

While the amount of damage is uncertain, the report estimates property damage to be around $75,000 and damage to contents to be around $10,000.

The good news is that no one was injured in the blaze and according to Herman Lawson, the operator of Southside Tire, his shop is not expected to be closed for any amount of time.

"I lost a tire balancer and a few tires and that’s it," Lawson said. "I am up and running right now just like usual."

The building’s owner, Colon Helton, said he expects to have the building looking as good as new as soon as possible.

"It all depends on how fast the insurance people get things moving," Helton said. "I intend to fix the place back up and go from there."

Helton said he has owned the building for quite some time, adding that it has always been a good place for business and he intends to keep it that way.

"I have owned that building for quite some time," Helton said. "My first wife bought it from her brother back in the 70’s and we were married in 1971, so it has been a while.

"I used to run the shop way back when, but I got involved with other business ventures and others took it over," he added. "Like I said though, we intend to fix it and make it look good again."

As per the Corbin Police Department’s policy regarding fires inside the city, the fire is under investigation and no details are available at this time. Det. Bill Rose is leading the investigation.