2015 Year-End Review
Three commercial properties were destroyed by spectacular fires in 2015 over a four-month period.
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An Aug. 8 fire destroyed the Gates Brothers Glass warehouse-fabrication building at 233 W. Columbus Ave. (SUBMITTED PHOTOS) |
Each fire could be seen for miles and just one is the result of arson.
Aug. 8, an electrical fire of undetermined origin sparked a blaze at the former Dunson Supply Co., 233 W. Columbus Ave.
Gate Brothers Glass, 241 W. Columbus Ave., was using the facility as a warehouse and for fabrication.
Bellefontaine firefighters were called to the scene about 5:45 a.m. and found the two-story, 7,089-square-foot building fully engulfed in flames.
Remains of the building were razed in the past month and the debris hauled from the site, leaving a concrete pad.
Bruce and Tom Gates own the property and have yet to decide what will go up to replace the structure which included an early 1900s hangar from McCook Field in Dayton. It was disassembled and rebuilt in Bellefontaine in the 1930s.
The brothers may set up temporary storage units so they can move materials housed next door and free up space to make room for a new machine to edge glass while plans are developed for new building.
Mad River Mountain Ski Resort’s timber frame lodge at 1000 Snow Valley Road, Valley Hi, was consumed on Sept. 16.
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A Sept. 16 fire destroyed the iconic ski lodge at Mad River Mountain. |
Area residents curious about the flames reaching high into the sky gathered along area roads to watch firefighters battle the inferno.
Nearly every fire department from Logan County and some from Union, Champaign and Hardin counties were called to 1000 Snow Valley Road shortly after the initial reports came in at about 7:25 p.m.
In all, 15 fire departments responded.
It was ruled an unsuspicious fire of undetermined origin.
The lodge was built in 1968, six years after the resort opened.
Current owners Peak Resorts contracted with Thomas & Marker Construction Co. Inc. to remove the debris, prepare the site, pour a concrete pad and build a temporary clear span structure for this year’s ski season.
The resort officially opens for the season at noon on Saturday, Jan. 2. CLICK HERE for more information on MRM’s opening day schedule and activities.
Next spring, Peak Resorts plans to disassemble the temporary lodge and build a new permanent structure.
On Nov. 22, a neighbor to Liberty Firestone, 114 S. Detroit St., West Liberty, watched a man enter a World War II-era storage building around 2 a.m.
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The charred remains of a storage facility at Liberty Firestone, 114 S. Detroit St., West Liberty, are shown after an arson fire destroyed the building Nov. 22. (EXAMINER FILE PHOTO | JOEL E. MAST) |
He called the West Liberty Police Department but the man exited the building and left the area.
The officers went to check the building and found it filling with smoke.
They called for the West Liberty Fire Department but the blaze erupted quickly, fueled by the arsonist’s methods and tires stored in building.
Heat from the blaze was intense, melting vinyl siding on the back of the Firestone building and on two residential properties to the south. Overhead communication cables along an alley to the west of the building were melted and damaged, which disrupted cable and telephone service.
Firefighters were on the scene for 4 1/2 hours to contain and then extinguish the fire.
West Liberty police are investigating the fire with assistance from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.
Anyone with information about this incident may contact the police department at 465-2801 or the fire department at 465-3989.