On the road to rebuilding; Tireland USA still operating despite fire that destroyed warehouse

Tireland USA’s Al Christiansen drives a golf cart around the remnants of his business’s warehouse, bundled up on a cloudy February Friday afternoon as he looks at the twisted, burnt metal piled atop half-melted tires and other charred debris.

Just weeks ago firefighters from over a dozen different departments on both sides of the state line battled a blaze that was sparked in the early morning hours and caused the pile of rubble off Cole Hill Road in Nichols that Christiansen looked at now. From Interstate 86, a car horn and a friendly wave encouragingly send support Christiansen’s way, while another wave is welcomed from a customer in the tire shop’s parking lot. 

“Life throws you curveballs sometimes,” he said with a warm smile that not even February could chill. “And how you handle it is all about your perspective.” 

Christiansen waved back his appreciation; they were simply the latest signs of support beneath heaps of appreciation from the community and customers that was piled higher than any fire could burn. 

“It’s been 100 percent positive,” he said. “We’ve gotten literally hundreds of calls and messages from people showing their support for us. We have so many dedicated customers, and they’ve all just reached out and shown support.” 

Christiansen recalled receiving the call that the storage facility, which he said contained many of Tireland’s higher-end products along with tools, equipment, golf carts and parts, that awoke him between 4 and 5 a.m. on Jan. 27. 

“I was just in a daze,” he said. “When you get that kind of call and you’ve just woken up, you just don’t really know what to say.” 

He explained that he spotted at least 15 fire trucks that morning, while drivers on the highway stopped to watch the fiery spectacle — the cause of which remains undetermined.

Nevertheless, Christiansen and his crew got back to work. He said Tireland was only closed for one day after the fire, and he is eager for the investigation to wrap up so the site can be cleaned up and the rebuild can start. 

“We’re just waiting for the green light so we can build it back bigger and better and make it more efficient,” he said. 

While the fire was a significant loss, Christiansen wanted to assure customers that even with that loss, they still have 80 percent of their inventory, and more is arriving constantly — including 1,300 more tires that arrive last Saturday.

“We started in 1989 with just 500 tires,” he said. “Even after the fire, we still have 60,000 tires here now.”

To make up for the lost storage space, temporary trailers have been brought in to the 20-acre property for the new inventory, Christiansen explained. Even if they don’t have a particular tire in stock, they can have it shipped overnight, he added. 

“We can certainly still cover 99 percent of our customers’ needs,” he said. “And we can still give people the personable service they deserve and expect from us. We want to make it easy and simple for them.”

“The biggest thing is just letting people know that we’re still here and still open,” Christiansen continued. “So many people have stopped by and shown their support, but sometimes they think we’re closed from the fire. We’re still here and ready to support them back with their needs, too.”