Spectacular fire destroys structure on South Marion Street in Bluffton
By HOLLY GASKILL
A historic downtown Bluffton building was overtaken by flames Thursday morning.
The fire continued with intensity for multiple hours, and the incident was terminated at approximately 8 p.m. The 11,000-square-foot building, at 123 S Marion St., has been deemed unsalvagable.
Smoke was initially reported to the Bluffton Dispatch Center shortly before 9 a.m. At the time, the owner, James Thompson of Bluffton, was asleep inside the home with his wife and four children. The children, Thompson said, are all under the age of five.
All occupants evacuated the building unharmed.
The Bluffton Fire Department responded just minutes later to light smoke. Two firefighters entered the building and located the fire, which was immediately larger than expected. Bluffton Fire Chief Don Craig said the men sent a distress signal as they became disoriented by the smoke.
Fortunately, the men located a staircase and evacuated the building.
“Upfront, we just do not have the manpower to fight these kinds of fires,” Craig said. “It was really close today.”
Multiple fire departments from Wells, Adams and Allen counties responded to the fire. Wells County EMS was also on standby.
The fire proved further difficult as flames and smoke bellowed from the roof. At 10:20 a.m., a plume of fire escaped a second-story window. Minutes later, the flames broke through the roof.
With a very narrow sidewalk between the structure and the Wells County Annex, crews began efforts to mitigate damage.
“There is no life inside the building anymore, we’ve had a heavy loss, and we aren’t saving the property,” Craig said at the scene. “At that point, we are saving lives by saving our lives … We have been working diligently to keep it to just that building. At the end of the day, if we can keep it out of that building and keep our firefighters safe, I think we can call that a win.”
Building Manager Bobbie Studebaker said county employees had vacated the Wells County Annex just after 9 a.m. when smoke entered the building’s vents.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., employees from the Wells County Health Department were allowed to re-enter the building to retrieve the vaccines and medicines. Studebaker said parts of the building had smoke and water damage at the time. She was unable to enter the north portion of the building, which, from an exterior view, appeared to have been more impacted.
By 11:10 a.m., the smoke had filled the streets of downtown Bluffton. Flames erupted from portions of the roof as firefighters continued fighting from all sides, including from the roof of the Wells County Annex.
During this time, community support came out in droves. Pizza King sent 25 large pizzas to the first responders, Scooters sent coffees, and various community members brought water, Gatorade, and snacks.
Rick Valesquez, Wells County Emergency Management director, said the building likely had asbestos, which also posed a threat to first responders and local onlookers. The wind carried smoke, ash and debris throughout the adjoining streets.
Another two hours passed before blazing flames turned to smoldering embers. At 1 p.m., the first of the assisting fire departments left the scene.
At this time, further efforts focused on completely extinguishing the fire and eliminating hot spots that would reignite the structure.
As BFD pulled its crews away Thursday night, Craig stated the fire had originated in the basement. Because of this, it still had multiple hot spots despite being flooded with water. Consequently, crews spent hours pumping hundreds of gallons of water out of the basement to reach those hot spots.
“Unless I wanted to put firefighters in scuba gear, we had to pump the water out,” Craig said. “There were hot spots under the floor … and there’s two inches of cement under the first floor of this structure.”
The building, which was built in the 1880s, had been purchased by Thompson in January for $65,000. It had previously served function in various capacities, including a dentist office, lawyer’s office, and lodge home for the Knights of Pythias.
Thompson and his family intended to renovate the building into a mental health care facility and office rental space. However, Thompson encountered numerous problems in the construction, which became much more costly than he expected.
“The building had so many problems I was scared to bring people in it,” Thompson said.
Thompson said he and his family were on the second floor of the building and unaware of the fire until they were notified smoke was leaving the first-story windows.
The home, Craig confirmed, was not insured.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Despite having spent nearly 11 hours at the house, Craig noted that the work might not be over yet.
“This kind of a structure, there’s so many hidden voids — chances are, we’re going to be back,” Craig said. “We’ve done our due diligence.”
holly@news-banner.com
