(Lake Park)– An overnight fire has destroyed a building in Lake Park. Lake Park Fire Chief Brandon Ehret tells KUOO news they were called to 26 Avenue B West, which is the former Methodist Church. Ehret says they were called to that location a little after 11:30 pm last (Tues.) night…
“When we got here we had heavy smoke and fire showing. We got set up and had fire through the roof a short time after we got here. Basically we put on a defensive attack, tried to protect the surrounding structures, put a bunch of water on it. We had Spirit Lake come and Milford come with their tankers, Spirit Lake came with their aerial truck. We got the fire knocked down, went over the top of it with the aerial truck, put a bunch of water down inside and then just basically watching it, putting out hot spots ever since, so.”
Ehret says they were able to keep the fire from spreading to some nearby homes. He says there was no one inside the building when the fire broke out…
“It was converted into apartments years ago and there was a gal that had a bunch of antiques in here and I guess had moved out in the last few days. She says she was in the building yesterday. She left, and yeah, nobody’s been here since, so.”
As of now, at least, Ehret says the cause of the fire isn’t known…
“Looking like it’s probably going to be undetermined at this time. The building is a total loss. The walls are standing but the roof is burned all the way through and we’re still just putting hot spots out inside the building, so.”
There were no reports of any injuries.
What’s left of the structure will be torn down due to safety concerns.
