Tom Danielson, who owns Danielson Oil Co. with his wife Shirley, said it was hard to put into words how he felt after arriving earlier in the morning. “I don’t know. I don’t really have an answer,” he told The Post-Journal.

Around 4 a.m. officers with the Jamestown Police Department had responded to the oil distribution business at 258 Crescent St. after a burglary alarm had been activated. Patrol then came across the blaze and the fire department was notified. Shawn Shilling, Jamestown battalion chief, said he arrived to find fire on the first and second floors in addition to “smoke coming basically from the entire building.”

He added, “So, we didn’t know how much fire was actually inside the building.”

The bulk of the blaze was extinguished in about 45 minutes, Shilling said.

P-J photo by Eric Tichy Fire broke out early Thursday at Danielson Oil Co. located at 258 Crescent St. in Jamestown. No injuries were reported.

Being an oil distribution business, Shilling said crews stayed alert. He noted that a tanker truck carrying diesel fuel had been parked next to the structure before it was later moved.

“We have a lot of combustible materials and fluids inside,” he said. No injuries were reported, and the majority of firefighters left the scene after 6 a.m. Only a handful remained around 9 a.m. Matt Coon, deputy fire chief, said the fire was accidental in nature, likely the result of a “faulty appliance” in a first-floor breakroom.

The building, though heavily damaged by Thursday’s fire, appears to be structurally sound.

Tom Danielson said the company has four employees including himself. He said Danielson Oil Co. was started in 1950 by his father. With his son also involved, the company is in its third generation of local ownership.

City firefighters were busy Thursday. Around 4:30 a.m., crews were alerted to a vehicle fire on Fulton Street, between East Sixth and East Eighth streets. A red sedan sustained significant damage and was later placed on a flatbed truck. An officer at the scene said the fire was under investigation.