NEW YORK WHOLESALE

Ross Farnsworth said he feels "blessed'' that the huge $8 million Gilbert fire on Monday that destroyed his Farnsworth Wholesale warehouse wasn't worse and vowed to rebuild the business.

Farnsworth said he easily could have lost a second business, R&K Building Supply, where stacks of lumber, wooden trusses and doors were stored just north of the warehouse on Baseline Road between Arizona Avenue and McQueen Road.

Firefighters were able to save his block offices from getting incinerated, even though there was water damage.

"I have sincerely thought that this is not so bad because no one was killed or injured. That was a big, big blessing to me,'' Farnsworth said. "We are going to rebuild that thing all the way back.''

The Mesa business leader and philanthropist said he will do everything possible to save the jobs of the 90 people who worked at the warehouse.

"If there's a layoff, it will be temporary,'' Farnsworth said.

After months of struggling to survive the recession, the business "was just starting to hum,'' he said.

The company also operates warehouses in Mesa and Peoria.

Farnsworth said he promised that he will impose "a steeper rule'' when it comes to smoking at his facilities in the wake of a determination that careless disposal of smoking materials ignited one of the largest fires in the Southeast Valley in recent memory.

Capt. Mark Justus, a Gilbert Fire Department spokesman, said a tall rack of fiberglass bathtubs was stored in cardboard boxes at the outdoor warehouse.

He said someone tossed away a lit cigarette that ignited the stack of bathtubs. He said several cigarettes were found in the area and investigators have not identified which one set off the blaze.

"It wasn't intentional. We hope it is a learning experience to others,'' Justus said, adding that the blaze started in an area with public access, so it is possible that either an employee or a visitor was responsible.

Farnsworth, 80, is a former Mesa City Council member who has been a major benefactor of the Mesa United Way and other charities. He also contributed heavily to the construction of the Ross Farnsworth-East Valley YMCA at A.T Still University.

With homes and businesses near the blaze, 193 firefighters from Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler and Tempe confronted a daunting test of their coordination, training, skill and physical fitness, a fire department spokesmen said.

"The magnitude of the fire, many firefighters won't experience that in their careers,'' said Capt. Forrest Smith, a Mesa Fire Department spokesman. "It showed and reenforced that the regional automatic aid agreement works."

Smith said firefighters regularly drill for huge fires and different fire departments routinely work together on smaller calls ranging from traffic accidents to house or apartment fires. But firefighters rarely put all their skills to use on a six-alarm fire, such as the Farnsworth Wholesale blaze, he said.

Justus said the fire is believed to be among the largest in the town's history.

"It's a testament to the ability of these fire departments to work together,'' Justus said.

The biggest previous fire that Justus could recall in his 11-year career in Gilbert was in July 2006, when a transformer at the Salt River Project's San Tan Generating Station burst into flames, spewing thick black smoke reminiscent of Monday's blaze.

Firefighters worked throughout the night on Farnsworth Wholesale fire and did not put out the last smoldering embers until Tuesday morning.