JAMESTOWN (AP) - Authorities are investigating a blaze that destroyed a Fire Department storage building and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment inside.

Fire Chief Bert Gray said the steel storage building housed the department's equipment for dealing with hazardous material. Other fire departments will have to handle such calls until the equipment can be replaced, he said.

"Hazardous materials response for us out into the county, which we have jurisdiction in, is gone," Gray said.

The fire was reported around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, when someone passing by the steel storage building noticed smoke, Gray said.

Gasoline stored in the building and in the vehicles added to the blaze, Gray said. Most of the equipment was heavily damaged or destroyed.

It included two trailers, including a biochemical hazard response unit, the department's SWAT vehicle and two trucks.

The state fire marshal's office sent investigators to the site Thursday.

Gray said much of the equipment that was lost in the Wednesday night fire was purchased with federal homeland security dollars.

"We don't even know how we're going to go about, with insurance, to replace some of it," he said.