The cause of an early Thursday morning fire that destroyed the building owned by Estes Trash Service and Cliff’s Commercial Trash Service at 323 NE 20 Ave., remains unknown, said Great Bend Fire Chief Mike Napolitano Thursday afternoon.
Napolitano said a Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator arrived on scene, near the Great Bend Municipal Airport, around 9:30 a.m. He was working with Great Bend Fire Department Capt. Luke McCormick to determine the cause of the blaze. Napolitano estimated the damage to be around $750,000.  
According to the chief, the Barton County Landfill was closed on Wednesday because of the high wind, so two of the five trash trucks that was in the building were full of trash. This added fuel for the fire.
As of Thursday afternoon, the contents of the one of the trucks continued to smoulder. “At this point we feel the best and safest thing is to let the contents burn in the trucks since it is contained,” Napolitano said. “Getting access to the truck would be very difficult due to the location and the hydraulics not working anymore because of the fire.”
The structure (which served as a garage and repair shop for the companies), and all the trucks, an all-terrain vehicle and a motorcycle in it, were destroyed. “It was a total loss,” Napolitano said.
However, there was no one in the building at the time of the fire and no one was hurt.
The call came in at about 12:20 a.m. Napolitano said at one point, the flames could be seen from town.
“You can’t just give up,” said Kevin Burton, owner of Estes Trash. “This is just another bump in the road.”
All three of Burton’s trucks were in the building. But, as he spoke to the Tribune, he was driving a new vehicle to Great Bend.
“I’ll be back running in the morning,” he said, referring to his plans for today. He does have insurance.
He is still looking for a couple more trucks to help him service his 2,000-some customers. “I hope to be back to that point again.”
As for what started the fire, Burton is baffled. There were no heaters on in the building.
Matt Eshleman, owner of Cliff’s Trash, said he had one truck that was not at the facility, so he is also still in  business. He handles primarily commercial customers and serves about half of the businesses in Great Bend.
But, he wants to replace the two trucks he lost. “I spent all day looking for trucks,” he said, adding they are kind of hard to come by in this area. He, too, had insurance.