Crews took a defensive stance to get ahead of the fire to stop it and save the buildings that were connected within the city block near North Russell and West Court streets, but several structures were damaged and collapsed.
Ortlieb told the News-Sun that the fire was contained by 6 p.m. Monday, more than five hours after it was reported, and they completed operations at 4 p.m. Tuesday putting out hot spots — more than 27 hours after crews arrived.
“Almost the entire city block was damaged to a certain extent and most of it collapsed,” he said.
Ortlieb said it’s an older complex and the buildings have been a hodgepodge of storage and businesses, but they are working to figure out who the owners and residents are to contact them.
Rick and Blanca Welch own one of the properties and drove eight hours from Maryland after hearing about the fire. Rick said they were in the process of either selling the property or keeping and renovating it, but they weren’t sure yet.
“We just got the whole back end cleared. We took all the trees down in the back, which I think probably helped from keeping the fire from spreading,” he said. “We’re trying to see (what happens). We’ll just have to take it a day at a time to see where it goes, where the investigation goes.”
“Hopefully they give us some guidance on what we do now. We’re here and just trying to figure it out, what the next step is,” Blanca said.
The couple said the most important thing is that no one was hurt.
“The main thing for us is that nobody got hurt, everybody is safe,” Blanca said. “Materials things are materials things, but thank goodness nobody got hurt.”
Residents who live around where the fire took place said there was a lot of smoke from the fire, some of which made it into their homes, but they were glad no one was hurt.
One woman said she was anxious during the ordeal as she was worried the fire would reach her home, but was glad when the fire was contained.
Several engines from Champaign County helped contain the fire, including members from fire departments in Clark County, Logan County, St. Paris, Mechanicsburg, West Liberty, North Lewisburg and Moorefield Twp. Crews also got help from city administration, water and police departments to help with evacuations and making sure there was enough water.
No one was injured in the fire, including firefighters and community members, Ortlieb said.
The cause and damage estimate have not been determined as the Urbana Fire Division and Ohio Fire Marshal are still investigating.
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