A fire breaks out in downtown Lima, and some workers needed to be rescued from a building under reconstruction.
According to Fire Chief Andy Heffner, just after 9 a.m. Friday morning, the Lima Fire Department was called down to the intersection of Spring and Main Streets after motorists spotted fire and smoke pouring from the roof and windows.
Three people were on the roof and firefighters were able to safely get them down just as the fire was reaching their position. Crews got everything under control in about a half-hour and remained on the scene for a while hosing down hot spots. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire, and the fate of the building has yet to be decided.
“The building was severely damaged, but I know owners are looking to rebuild if it is structurally safe to do so,” says Heffner.
Because of the nature of the fire, Heffner says they called in mutual aid to help get it under control fast, he calls it another example of the teamwork between departments.
“I would like to thank Shawnee Township and I would like to thank American Township. With their help, we were able to extinguish this fire rather quickly, and also we had a fire out in Bath, it just shows the way our community come together when we have tragedy here, especially with the fire departments.”
The building was under reconstruction to create office space and a restaurant.
