Common Ground Cafe is going to be okay! But Comic Book Den and A-1 Vacuum sustain major loss

As more infomration comes in about last night’s fire, one of the biggest realizations is it could have been much worse if the fire department and community had not acted so quickly.

Mayor Denis Law filled me in on some additional details this morning. According to Denis, several seperate buildings share a common basement, which put a large part of the historic block at risk. However, firefighters were able to keep the flames from spreading through the shared basement, and they were successful at isolating the serious damage to the building used by the Comic Den, A1-Vaccuum, and some apartments. Denis also confirmed for me that the building was not equipped with fire sprinklers. This is sometimes the case with older buildings that have not been significantly remodled or had a change in use, and are therefore “grandfathered” without sprinklers. (I don’t know if sprinklers would have saved this building, but they certainly would have helped firefighters contain the fire as quickly as possible.)

Sadly, between the smoke and water, the Comic book Den has lost much of it’s valuable and rare inventory. Likewise, the Vacuum shop lost much of it’s product.

Thc Common Ground Cafe, located in an adjacent building (with the shared basement) is currently without power, and has some smoke to clean up and air out, but is otherwise okay.

In fact, The Common Ground may be reopening as early as today or tomorrow!

Again, it looks like there were no significant injuries, and the community and Red Cross are pulling together to help those that have been impacted.
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Here is a little more info in an email that Denis sent to our Fire Chief and our Economic Development Director this morning:

Chief Daniels and Alex,

The city is receiving a lot of praise by downtown property and business owners today for the quality service provided during and after the fire on Wells St.

David: I was very impressed with the efforts of your command staff and our fire fighters in attacking a difficult fire that could have been much worse. Besides calling in ample assistance, the strategy to save the adjoining businesses was executed very well. In addition, I have talked to a number of business owners, both during the fire and this morning, who are expressing their gratitude for the efforts of our fire fighters. While at the scene this morning, it was truly heartwarming to see how hard your staff was working to try and get power restored for the local businesses, understanding the impact if they lose a day of business during a time when businesses are struggling to survive.

Alex: Jennifer and Suzanne have been great in dealing with the needs of local residents and business owners who have been impacted by the fire. They are finding solutions to assist Common Ground with their significant challenge of handling a large catering project today at a time when they have no power. Even Liz Stewart stopped by to see if the museum could be of any assistance to the property owner.

This was a great example of the professionalism and dedication that our employees have in serving this community. Our utilities staff was on the scene to make sure we had adequate water and police did a great job of handling a huge crowd and some significant traffic challenges.

Please express my thanks to all involved!

Thanks.
Denis