History in flames-Early morning blaze
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Mel and Janice Dixon, who live in one of the buildings, escaped with their lives. Dixon had to be pulled from the first floor of his burning home by McMinnville firefighter Brad Weaver. The Dixons had reportedly escaped the fire, but Mel went back inside.
‘I heard somebody had gone back in,’ said Weaver. ‘So I went in after him. There was smoke everywhere but there was about a two-foot break at the floor. I bent down and I could see his feet and legs under the smoke. He was coughing and hacking real bad. I had to grab him and pull him out. If he had stayed in there any longer, he would have gone down due to smoke inhalation.’
An estimated 50 firefighters converged on the scene and battled the blaze for over six hours. Their efforts kept the fire contained to 207 and 209 E. Main Street, buildings located between the old City Drug and old Fraley’s Furniture.
The Dixons lived at 207 E. Main. Travis McVey owns 209 E. Main and was at work at the time, although he does not live there.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
By the time the sun was coming up, firefighters had the blaze under control, a fact McMinnville Fire Chief Kevin Lawrence attributes to the department’s equipment.
‘People sure gave aldermen a hard time for buying that ladder truck because of all the money it cost,’ said Lawrence. ‘If it hadn’t been for that ladder truck, we probably would have lost the whole block.’
Added property owner Ken Roberts, who owns the old Fraley’s and Touch O’Klas buildings, ‘I can’t say enough about what the fire department did to contain a fire of that magnitude.’
The ladder truck allowed firefighters to direct a steady stream of water on the fire from above, while the fire was also attacked from ground level. Lawrence said over 1 million gallons of water were used on the fire.
McMinnville Fire Department received the call at 12:05 a.m. Saturday morning. The fire was only a couple hundred yards from the main fire station, and Capt. Kendall Mayfield responded on foot.
Volunteers from Centertown and North Warren fire departments also responded with Centertown on call in case another fire erupted inside the city.
‘We had all our resources right here,’ said Lawrence. ‘Centertown was on standby.’
Firefighters reported the blaze was already through the roof when they arrived. That left containment as the top priority.
Crane operator Dennis Hunt of Manchester was called to the scene Saturday morning and he began demolition work around 9 a.m. using an 8,500-pound wrecking block.
‘The building was a safety hazard,’ said Public Works director Bill Brock.
Added Lawrence, ‘We couldn’t have just left it there the way things were dangling.’
Asked when the city had plans to bring in dumptrucks to haul away the rubble, Brock said the rubble technically belongs to the property owners and it is their responsibility to dispose of it.
A front-end loader was clearing debris from the city sidewalk late yesterday afternoon, but it wasn’t going to begin clearing any of the rubble on private property.
Main Street was closed from the Region’s Bank building to Sparta Street during fire-fighting, demolition and clean-up work. It had not reopened at press time last night.
Lawrence reported no firefighter injuries.
‘Right now we’re all bushed,’ said Lawrence.