Spudman
March 24th, 2009, 02:36 PM
The town where I grew up just had another devestating fire that destroyed another block of Main Street.
Several historic buildings in the 700 block of Main Street were destroyed by fire Monday. Firefighters from Miles City, Forsyth, Terry and Glendive responded to the fire. Many other businesses experienced smoke damage.
http://milescitystar.com/news/PH%20Fire%2023%20look%20of%20disaster.jpg
Photo by Steve Allison
Monday, March 23
Main Street block ablaze; many businesses lost in historic district
By Elaine Forman
“Heartbreaking” was the word on many people’s lips as they watched the north side of the 700 block of Main burning out of control Monday morning.
Remodeling was being done in the basement of the former Burlap and Lace site when the fire broke out. The original call came in at about 8:30 a.m. as a fire in the basement of Burlap and Lace, according to Incident Commander Tod Miller of Miles City Fire & Rescue.
Miller said the cause of the fire was not determined.
Gloria Grenz of the Park Place and 600 Cafe said Mike Wacker and John Peila were starting the Horseshoe Bar at the site.
“Two young men that really stuck their neck out to have a business on Main Street, and they lost everything,” Grenz said. “They were going to be open before Bucking Horse Sale.”
At noon, Miller said all the firefighters were pulled out of the building and they were fighting “totally defense,” meaning they were fighting it only on the outside.
At that point the goal was to keep the fire to the four buildings (the Arnold Building to Good Things) and keep it out of Stockhill Jewelers “as best we can, “ Miller said.
Firefighters were on the roof across Main Street to keep an eye on conditions.
Karen Martin was coming to open up Family Floral at 8:50 a.m., and as she rounded the corner of 8th and Main streets, smoke was already bellowing out of the door of Burlap & Lace.
The workers from the remodeling project were already on the site.
She had to cross the street to walk around the smoke, then approached the front door to Family Floral and saw black smoke inside the flower shop.
“I opened the door only until firefighters said it’s okay.”
Shaun Lockie has a Farmers Insurance Group office in the Arnold Building and began smelling smoke at 9 a.m. Once he saw smoke coming out of the roof in the Burlap and Lace site, he began clearing his office, then helping the Cellar move furniture out.
“We do our best to get everything out that we can,” he said. “It was nice to see everyone pitching in and helping out. It’s hard to believe it’s happened.”
He keeps an upbeat attitude. “It is what it is. You can’t change it. ... As long as no one is seriously hurt. ... You’ve got to pick up and keep moving forward.”
Still it is hard to fathom “especially taking as many businesses as it did,” he said.
“I can’t imagine all the smoke damage. You can see all the soot on the building walls (across the street),” he said.
Denis Leidholt, owner of the Cellar Casino, said the smoke was coming into his building by 8:15 a.m., and they evacuated right away.
Apparently a bystander helping to carry out items from one of the businesses was taken by the ambulance from North 8th Street.
Gayle Muggli of Copper Thimble said this is the third time the business has been involved in a fire.
When Carla Muggli started the business, it was at the Milligan Building on the 500 block of Main when a fire broke out about 20 years ago. When Coast to Coast burned on June 20, 1989, Copper Thimble was at the end of the block and had to move its merchandise out.
Now it has been destroyed for the second time.
“Maybe it’s time to quit. It’s so sickening to see the whole thing burn,” Muggli said.
The utility pole behind the Cellar is a main tower for power for the area, so power was lost or shut off in the 800 block of Main also. Washington Middle School was closed because it had no power.
Businesses across Main Street, including Stockman Bank, were evacuated. Bank employees had moved art work and other valuables to the vault.
Bystanders helped clear some of the buildings, and some of those items were also going into the vault.
Firefighters from the Custer County Rural Volunteer Fire Company, Terry, Forsyth and Glendive had responded to the fire.
Custer County Sheriff’s Office and reserve officers, and Miles City Police Department were providing security and traffic control.
Ash fell all over town, and an air quality permit was issued.
At the Park Place, a Red Cross station was set up for the firefighters and other emergency providers with food and supply donations from the 600 Cafe, Pepsi, Blue Rock Distributing, Holy Rosary Healthcare, Albertsons, Subway, Reynolds, Wendy’s and more.
Susan Maddox of the Red Cross said people are giving money to help the situation.
“I am just so sad and everyone is so sad ...,” Grenz said.
Stan Markuson, president of the Miles City Branch of Stockman Bank, said that the bank’s vault was used by John Stockhill Jewelry to store their inventory.
“As a precautionary measure,” the bank put their artwork in the vault also, he said.
“We know we have smoke damage already,” otherwise they are just watching for burning embers on the roof, he said.
“We have a disaster protocol to make sure everyone is out of the building,” Markuson said.
Most of the employees have left work and are on standby.
The phones have been rerouted and are set up in the Stockman Center on Bridge Street with computers to handle corporate business, he said.
Several historic buildings in the 700 block of Main Street were destroyed by fire Monday. Firefighters from Miles City, Forsyth, Terry and Glendive responded to the fire. Many other businesses experienced smoke damage.
http://milescitystar.com/news/PH%20Fire%2023%20look%20of%20disaster.jpg
Photo by Steve Allison
Monday, March 23
Main Street block ablaze; many businesses lost in historic district
By Elaine Forman
“Heartbreaking” was the word on many people’s lips as they watched the north side of the 700 block of Main burning out of control Monday morning.
Remodeling was being done in the basement of the former Burlap and Lace site when the fire broke out. The original call came in at about 8:30 a.m. as a fire in the basement of Burlap and Lace, according to Incident Commander Tod Miller of Miles City Fire & Rescue.
Miller said the cause of the fire was not determined.
Gloria Grenz of the Park Place and 600 Cafe said Mike Wacker and John Peila were starting the Horseshoe Bar at the site.
“Two young men that really stuck their neck out to have a business on Main Street, and they lost everything,” Grenz said. “They were going to be open before Bucking Horse Sale.”
At noon, Miller said all the firefighters were pulled out of the building and they were fighting “totally defense,” meaning they were fighting it only on the outside.
At that point the goal was to keep the fire to the four buildings (the Arnold Building to Good Things) and keep it out of Stockhill Jewelers “as best we can, “ Miller said.
Firefighters were on the roof across Main Street to keep an eye on conditions.
Karen Martin was coming to open up Family Floral at 8:50 a.m., and as she rounded the corner of 8th and Main streets, smoke was already bellowing out of the door of Burlap & Lace.
The workers from the remodeling project were already on the site.
She had to cross the street to walk around the smoke, then approached the front door to Family Floral and saw black smoke inside the flower shop.
“I opened the door only until firefighters said it’s okay.”
Shaun Lockie has a Farmers Insurance Group office in the Arnold Building and began smelling smoke at 9 a.m. Once he saw smoke coming out of the roof in the Burlap and Lace site, he began clearing his office, then helping the Cellar move furniture out.
“We do our best to get everything out that we can,” he said. “It was nice to see everyone pitching in and helping out. It’s hard to believe it’s happened.”
He keeps an upbeat attitude. “It is what it is. You can’t change it. ... As long as no one is seriously hurt. ... You’ve got to pick up and keep moving forward.”
Still it is hard to fathom “especially taking as many businesses as it did,” he said.
“I can’t imagine all the smoke damage. You can see all the soot on the building walls (across the street),” he said.
Denis Leidholt, owner of the Cellar Casino, said the smoke was coming into his building by 8:15 a.m., and they evacuated right away.
Apparently a bystander helping to carry out items from one of the businesses was taken by the ambulance from North 8th Street.
Gayle Muggli of Copper Thimble said this is the third time the business has been involved in a fire.
When Carla Muggli started the business, it was at the Milligan Building on the 500 block of Main when a fire broke out about 20 years ago. When Coast to Coast burned on June 20, 1989, Copper Thimble was at the end of the block and had to move its merchandise out.
Now it has been destroyed for the second time.
“Maybe it’s time to quit. It’s so sickening to see the whole thing burn,” Muggli said.
The utility pole behind the Cellar is a main tower for power for the area, so power was lost or shut off in the 800 block of Main also. Washington Middle School was closed because it had no power.
Businesses across Main Street, including Stockman Bank, were evacuated. Bank employees had moved art work and other valuables to the vault.
Bystanders helped clear some of the buildings, and some of those items were also going into the vault.
Firefighters from the Custer County Rural Volunteer Fire Company, Terry, Forsyth and Glendive had responded to the fire.
Custer County Sheriff’s Office and reserve officers, and Miles City Police Department were providing security and traffic control.
Ash fell all over town, and an air quality permit was issued.
At the Park Place, a Red Cross station was set up for the firefighters and other emergency providers with food and supply donations from the 600 Cafe, Pepsi, Blue Rock Distributing, Holy Rosary Healthcare, Albertsons, Subway, Reynolds, Wendy’s and more.
Susan Maddox of the Red Cross said people are giving money to help the situation.
“I am just so sad and everyone is so sad ...,” Grenz said.
Stan Markuson, president of the Miles City Branch of Stockman Bank, said that the bank’s vault was used by John Stockhill Jewelry to store their inventory.
“As a precautionary measure,” the bank put their artwork in the vault also, he said.
“We know we have smoke damage already,” otherwise they are just watching for burning embers on the roof, he said.
“We have a disaster protocol to make sure everyone is out of the building,” Markuson said.
Most of the employees have left work and are on standby.
The phones have been rerouted and are set up in the Stockman Center on Bridge Street with computers to handle corporate business, he said.