Neighbouring businesses sustain smoke, water damage
Apr 29, 2008 - 05:45 PM
By Jennifer Stone
BOWMANVILLE -- Wind hampered the efforts of firefighters dealing with a blaze believed to have begun in Lange's Photo Lab before eventually spreading into neighbouring businesses and apartments, gutting a portion of Bowmanville's historic downtown Tuesday.
By 4 p.m., two businesses and several apartments had been entirely gutted. White foam used by firefighters flowed down the street into the intersection at King and Scugog streets and floated through the air, pushed by the high winds coming in from the west.
No injuries were reported as a result of the fire.
Brett Graves, who owns the King Street West photo store, could only stand and watch as firefighters worked to douse the blaze.
Fire department officials believe the blaze started in either the basement or the main floor of the building.
"Where, I don't know. Why, I don't know," said a visibly shaken Mr. Graves, who has owned the business since taking it over from original proprietor, Richard Lange, about 2 1/2 years ago. "Luckily, no one was hurt."
By mid-morning, it appeared the blaze was largely contained to Lange's, but just after noon, the blaze jumped to the store to the east, gutting Second Chance, a new and used clothing store run by Bethesda House women's and children's shelter.
Apartments above those two stores, as well as above neighbouring Leisure Lady also sustained significant fire damage.
By 4 p.m., it appeared Leisure Lady hadn't been hit by flames, but smoke and water damage was expected to be significant. Firefighters continued to pour water to the roof of Second Chance, where it met the Leisure Lady building.
"What's hurting us today is the high winds," said Fire Chief Gord Weir.
So significant was the blaze that Clarington had to call in two aerial trucks from Oshawa, to help douse the flames. For much of the day, firefighters fought the fire from both the front, on King Street, and the back, along Queen Street.
The fire was first detected at about 8 a.m. Lange's employee Bev Noseworthy, who was one of the first to arrive at work, said the building was on fire when she pulled in.
"I saw smoke coming out the door. The firefighters were here," she said.
Ms. Noseworthy waved down co-worker Dana King to let her know what was happening. The two stood across the road and "watched the fire blow out the windows," Ms. King said.
Ron Hooper, who runs Hooper's Jewellers three doors down, was on his way from Town Hall, where he was catching up on municipal council work before heading in to his store at about 8:30 a.m.
"The plastic on the front caught fire and the heat was so intense, we were standing across the road and could feel it from there," Mr. Hooper said.
The second-floor apartment had just been vacated by the previous tenant over the weekend, and the new tenant wasn't due to move in until later this week, said Cara Goddard, Mr. Lange's daughter.
"Everyone's OK," she said. "It's just stuff. It gets fixed."
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