We had to go downtown to meet up with my mom who was attending the Arts in Motion event in Niles this weekend. I was coming in from White Pigeon on US12 and I received my weather bug alert about breaking news in Niles. When we got in all the streets near downtown were closed and smoke, police, people and firetrucks were everywhere. I called my mom and she was at 2nd St and Main (near the Golden Nugget). The volunteer in her was alive and kicking as she was helping to keep the debris that was coming down the hill with the water from clogging up the storm drains.
After we meet up wither her we decided to walk up and take a look at what was left of the building. I assumed that the fire would be mostly out since there was a lot of smoke. Boy was I wrong-- the firefighters were still very much fighting the fire.
I walked up close-right across the street from the building that was on fire and I shot this photo. I was taken 4 hours after the fire began around 6:30 pm on 06/27/08. Just after I took this picture more flames errupted inside and it was suspected that the front wall may collapse so they made everyone move back. You could feel the heat coming off of the building and the wind was carrying the water spray from the hoses across the street where we were standing.
Apparently many of the oxygen tanks the firefighters were using were running low and had to be replaced or refilled and they did that as we were watching. You could see how exhausted they each were and knowing they had just been torn away from a funeral of their friend who was a firefighter in Niles made it all the more sad to watch.
This store has been an anchor and a landmark here in downtown Niles and it will be missed by all who patronized it.
yoghurtitos says ...
On Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:03 PM
The fire was very harsh as seen from the crowd, the fire itself did damage to the building, but in ways, it damaged peoples hearts.