Fire destroys history in downtown Virden

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This article was published 23/09/2017 (3092 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — A fire gutted a historic block of brick-veneer buildings in Virden on Saturday morning.

Three century-old buildings were reduced to rubble from the blaze.

Virden Mayor Jeff McConnell struggled to describe what it felt like to watch plumes of black smoke billowing above Seventh Avenue.

“Our downtown heritage buildings are some of the most important assets we have as a community, and to lose three of them in this devastating way is just…” he said, his voice trailing off.

“I think I’m numb because otherwise I would cry.”

Nobody was injured in the blaze and people in surrounding properties were safely evacuated.

Wallace District Fire Department Chief Brad Yochim said a cat was rescued from an apartment on the second floor of one building and was provided oxygen. A witness said the cat was taken to a veterinary clinic.

At approximately 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, firefighters were called to Seventh Avenue, between Nelson and Wellington streets.

Initially, they didn’t know where the smoke was emanating from. Once they found the origin of the fire in the basement, they threw water at it, but their strategy was “not really effective because it’s hard to reach the whole basement from that one area and it definitely wasn’t safe to send anyone down there,” Yochim said.

They could not contain the blaze at the electronics store because doors installed in two firewalls defeated the purpose of the fire-resistant barrier.

“You can’t breach a firewall,” he said. “You’re taking away the effectiveness of that firewall, it can’t do its job.”

Yochim said the fire department visited the same building on Friday night to extinguish an electrical fire involving an amplifier.

“We’re a little suspicious as to how it started the second time, because the second fire was in the basement; a totally different spot.”

He wouldn’t speculate on how the fire started.

In the late morning on Saturday, the front of each building was knocked down using a track hoe so firefighters could get at the flames.

The electronics store where the fire originated was an outlet of the Source.

The adjacent commercial stores, to the south, were vacant, although the owner of one of the buildings applied for municipal heritage designation to return the complex to period appearance, the Virden Empire-Advance reported earlier this year.

McConnell shared that council was planning to discuss heritage building preservation policy in a month’s time.

“This is just a significant loss and utterly devastating,” he said.

“Just the other day, I was walking at this intersection and I looked at it, and I took a photo of it,” he said. “I happen to think it’s one of the most attractive corners I’ve ever seen.”

Yochim believed a number of other buildings along the block sustained smoke damage.

Most, if not all, of the art kept at Terry McLean Art Gallery, next door to the electronics store, was removed before the smoke forced evacuation, Yochim understood.

Among the hundred people watching as fire crews doused the buildings with water was Craig Russell, who once owned a pizza joint where the electronics store was.

“I’ve been removed from it for a few years, so I’m not near as emotional now, but still, it’s the memories,” he said. “It’s a huge loss in the heart of the community.”

— Brandon Sun

Historic buildings on Seventh Avenue in Virden goes up in flames. @thebrandonsun pic.twitter.com/ueVKqqHb3E

— Ian Froese (@ianfroese) September 23, 2017

Fire started in a basement in Virden, engulfing three buildings in the process. No people were injured. @thebrandonsun pic.twitter.com/fht1JRbF38

— Ian Froese (@ianfroese) September 23, 2017