On Sunday, March 7, at around 5 p.m. the Garretson Fire Department was dispatched to the new apartment complex on Main Ave.
The Gazette had a feature story on these new apartments just two months ago in our Dec. 17, 2020 issue. Norm DeWit recently renovated the building that used house the Garretson Senior Center and Jesse James Opera house into premium downtown apartments, and since that time all but one of the nine units in the newly renovated space had been rented out.
Speaking with Ryan Longhenry of the Garretson Fire Department, he told the Gazette that thankfully the fire was contained quickly.
“We got the call from the home resident right away, and it’s thankfully a very short distance from the fire hall,” he said. “We got the engine set up right away and the fire, which started in a bedroom, was contained in that bedroom. We were able to clear the residents out of the building and extinguished the fire with minimal water use, about 100 gallons only. The bedroom itself was a total loss, but the fire was contained just to that room. There was some smoke damage to the rest of the building, but thankfully it was contained so the water damage and smoke damage to the rest of the building was minimal.”
“We had about 15 local firefighters respond,” said Longhenry. “As per our mutual aid agreements with other local departments, the departments from Brandon and Renner also joined us, though thankfully the fire was out before they arrived. The Garretson Ambulance was also on the scene on standby and our Fire Rescue had created a rehab area for the residents of the apartment complex that we evacuated. I was very happy with our response time and with the professional actions of everyone who responded. A fire downtown is always a scary prospect, but I’m happy with how quickly we got the fire knocked down and glad that it wasn’t any worse. Boards and sheet rock can be replaced, no lives were lost and no one was hurt, and that’s a win.”
Owner Norm DeWit said that he was also very pleased with the response time of the GFD.
“My hat is off to the Garretson Fire Department,” he said. “They were very fast and professional and expect to see a proper thank you letter in your newspaper in the very near future. Standing there, watching what happened was pretty disconcerting and disheartening, considering we just finished the restoration of that building, and opened it up as homes for people. But the good news is that everything can be fixed, and we’re going to get it cleaned up and restored as soon as possible. Intek Cleaning and Restoration is already working on cleaning out the damage from the smoke, we’ve already got the window replacement ordered and we’ll be getting to work right away clearing out the damaged portions of the building and replacing and repairing. It could have had a much worse ending.”
