YORK, Pa. (WHTM) — One simple truth about big fires is, they take a long time to investigate, and York firefighters — still putting out hotspots nearly three days after a six-alarm fire began at an Elm Street warehouse — were not ready to rule in or out any potential causes.

William Sleeger, the city’s fire chief, was, however, quick to reiterate how thankful he was that everyone survived — and how thankful he was for the support York firefighters got from fire departments spanning several counties, from and neighbors and local businesses who quickly brought food and water for the hungry, thirsty and tired firefighters.

In terms of the fire’s size and intensity, Sleeger said it will likely rank among the top 10 in city history, if not perhaps the top five.

Sleeger said most recently, the warehouse served as a distribution center — wooden pallets could be seen burning Friday night. Earlier in its life, workers at the warehouse assembled military vehicles during World War II — and bodies for buses and other vehicles during peace time.

A block away, at the corner of Elm and Lancaster streets, Parker James Hooker — working with his wife Robin in their outdoor garden art gallery — noted the irony that he learned some new-to-him local history because of the fire, as neighbors gathered Friday night and exchanged stories.

“One guy told me his grandfather worked here. His dad worked here. He worked here in these buildings,” Hooker said. “And and it was their life. It was the life of this town.”

Their garden, full of colorful glass and tile work, is a memorial to three different family members — Robin’s sister and Parker’s mother and daughter — who all died of brain tumors. His daughter Patricia was just 31 when she died four years ago.

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“So I’ve been out here every day trying to just to stay busy — try to make something positive out of something so bad,” said Hooker, who asks people who enjoy the garden gallery to consider donating to the American Brain Tumor Association . “Like the fire: There’s got to be something positive that we find in that, or it would just be all bad.”

Sure enough, not lost on Hooker and other neighbors who gathered Friday as the warehouse burned: a rainbow visible in the other direction.

“And it was sort of like a very poignant thing that, you know, we can keep staring at the destruction, but we ought to turn around and look at the rainbow too sometimes,” Hooker said.

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