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Fire damages Allen’s Furniture

About 2 ½ months after a fire destroyed four businesses in the 300 block of West Gallatin Street, a business at the other end of that block has sustained substantial damage from a blaze.

Vandalia fire officials believe that lightning is to blame for a fire early Wednesday morning at Allen’s Furniture.

Vandalia’s volunteer firefighters were called to the store at the southeast corner of Fourth and Gallatin streets at 5:16 a.m., when a city police officer noticed flames after being called to that area for a report of electrical line problems at Gallatin Street and Kennedy Boulevard.

Firefighters battled the blaze in the middle of the severe thunderstorm that moved through the area.

Vandalia Fire Chief Merle Adermann said it appears that a lightning strike caused the fire to start on the second floor of the business’ east building. He said the fire then spread upward into the third floor.

“We had a pretty good handle on it within 45 minutes,” Adermann said.

“We made the initial attack with the waterway on the aerial and a 2 ½-inch line,” he said, adding that firefighter Brian Westendorf, who worked for Allen’s Furniture years ago, provided some important information.

“Once we got the fire knocked down, and Brian told me that there was a brick wall between the two (Allen’s Furniture) buildings, we got an interior crew in there and they were able to get on the second and third floors to finish knocking it down.”

The waterway on the ladder truck, Adermann said, proved to be of great benefit.

“Putting it in the window to start with pretty well knocked down the fire,” he said.

Adermann said the business’ east building sustained fire, smoke and water damage, and the adjacent building, which is Allen’s Furniture’s main display area, sustained smoke damage and some minor water damage.

The fire chief was proud of his crew’s efforts.

“I was amazed that the guys were able to contain it to that building and get it knocked down so quick, when you consider the amount of fireload in that building, all of that furniture and mattresses.

The only hindrance that firefighters experienced was getting initial reports on the fire. Lightning had apparently knocked out the paging system used for the fire department, so firefighters with landlines in their homes were notified by the fire phone system.

All firefighters were notified by a text messaging system that was put into operation last year, and Adermann paged out the fire through one of the department’s trucks.

The Brownstown Fire Department provided mutual aid assistance, both at the scene and with cleanup at the fire station.

The fire comes about 2 ½ months after an early-morning fire destroyed Cages, Donaldson Carpet, and Gathe’s Tax & Accounting Service, and caused substantial damage to the building housing Dennis Gerkin’s State Farm Insurance Agency.

The cause of that fire has not been determined by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Allen’s Furniture, which is owned and operated by Lorraine and Rita Mae Allen, is in its 79th year. The family business was started in 1931, when Sam Allen and his brother-in-law, Sam Senturia, opened a furniture store. The Allen family purchased and moved into the building at Fourth and Gallatin streets in 1936.

 

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