JONESBORO, Ark. — A massive fire in downtown Jonesboro, Arkansas damaged several businesses and apartments located in one of the city’s oldest buildings.
Fire crews worked for hours trying to douse “hot spots”and power remained out for some businesses near downtown Jonesboro.
There’s no official word on what started the fire, but many said it was a miracle no one was injured.
Friday morning Jonesboro firefighters kept a safe distance, as one of the city’s oldest buildings smoldered.
A boutique, spa and three loft apartments at the corner of Union and Washington were destroyed by fire after 10:30 Thursday night.
Fire Chief Kevin Miller said first responders immediately started searching for anyone inside the apartments on the second floor of the brick building.
“Being that late at night we knew the businesses probably weren’t occupied, so we focused on the apartments at that time,” said Chief Miller.
Miller said thankfully no injuries were reported.
A resident in one of the apartments smelled smoke and called 9-1-1.
It didn’t take long for the fire to rage out of control and firemen knew there was a possibility the structure could collapse.
“The roof actually had caught on fire from one end to the other. At that point we removed everybody from the building and set up our defensive attack with our ladder trucks, to try to be able to put the fire out from the outside,” said Chief Miller.
There was only smoke and water damage to an adjacent building on the corner which Brian Sneed owned for twelve years.
Sneed watched firefighters pour water on the ruins and said a lot of history went up in smoke.
“The corner was built in about 1916. The building that burned was built in about 1920. So they’ve been around for quite a while,” he said.
Streets around the building were closed because of concern more of the structure would collapse.
But traffic flow wasn’t the only concern for nearby businesses that have been without electricity since Thursday night.
One of them was Bud’s Texaco, where owner Gary Kifer said his mechanics were in a “holding pattern.”
“This morning early when my son called opening up, telling us we didn’t have any power here. So we can’t use any power tools, lifts, don’t have any air or anything else,” he said.
