HAYDEN, Idaho — Fire investigators returned to the scene of a massive fire that lit up the sky in Hayden last night.
According to Northern Lakes Fire District's Deputy Fire Marshal Chris Larson, when fire crews arrived, they found the fire burning initially on the northside of the building.
Multiple fire crews responded to the fire, including Coeur d'Alene, Timberlake and Hauser Lake.
Fire officials estimate there were about 40 to 50 firefighters working during the peak of the fire.
NLFD Deputy fire marshal Larson said it took crews about two hours to knock down the fire.
Crews stayed on scene to keep an eye on the remains.
On Wednesday, harsh sunlight highlighted the damage with burned-out windows and a collapsed roof.
Larson said their next steps are to examine and investigate the building, as well as make sure it's stable.
“We have walls that are bowing out, trusses that have fell in the roof and then the back wall is unstable," Larson said.
According to Larson, the fire burned the majority of the building, with three-quarters of it considered to be a total loss.
He estimates the replacement cost for the building alone to be around $2 million and said it’s a “critical loss” to the owners of Ballard Golf Cars and Power Sports.
One group the deputy fire marshal commended were the dispatchers at Kootenai County Central Dispatch: "We had multiple calls going around at the county and in our jurisdiction at the same time, so it was a very busy.”
He also said, “We can't do our job without our dispatchers."
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but it is not considered suspicious.