Monday, May 5, 2008

Fire in Chelsea shopping center

LATEST NEWS ON THE CHELSEA SHOPPING CENTER FIRE:
[Editor's Note] My original post regarding the shopping center fire is below. Here are links to news stories with more details regarding the Chelsea's big fire of '08:

Articles from the Ann Arbor News - May 5-6, 2008:
From the Chelsea Standard:
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ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:
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Around lunchtime today, I heard 4 or 5 fire trucks zoom past our house with their sirens blaring, and wondered if something serious was going on. Shortly afterwards, saw this story come in from the Ann Arbor News:
[Link to source: Ann Arbor News online, 5/5/08]

Fire reported in commercial building south of downtown Chelsea

Posted by Art Aisner | The Ann Arbor News May 05, 2008 13:13PM

Firefighters from several local departments are responding to a reported large structure fire in a commercial building just south of downtown Chelsea, officials said.

No injuries have been reported at the scene, located at 1060 S. Main Street, near the intersection of Main Street and M-52. The fire was reported just before 1 p.m.

Mutual aid was requested from Manchester, Dexter, Saline and Pittsfield fire departments.

Further details were not immediately available.


I'll post more when I see a news update, or after I drive by there this afternoon.

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UPDATE:

This came in shortly after:
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/05/update_fire_out_at_chelsea_sho.html

UPDATE: Fire out at Chelsea Shopping Center, at least three stores severely damaged

Posted by Art Aisner | The Ann Arbor News May 05, 2008 13:43PM

Firefighters from several local departments have extinguished the blaze that caused heavy damage to at least three businesses at the Chelsea Shopping Center this afternoon.

The fire was reported just before 1 p.m. and quickly spread to portions of the Chelsea Grill, The Glass Slipper, Chelsea Pharmacy and other connected businesses in the strip mall.

No injuries have been reported and fire officials said they believe the businesses were evacuated.

How or where the fire started is not yet known.

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ANOTHER UPDATE:

Yikes. At just after 3:00 I drove by the intersection of Main St / Old US 12. There are at least 12 firetrucks still at work, in addition to ambulances and fire rescue trucks. The corner of the Pamida shopping center where the Chelsea Pharmacy, The Glass Slipper, Hick's Cleaners, Aleko's, Liberty Tax, and Edward Jones offices are located appear severely damaged from the fire. Parts of Pamida and the Chelsea Grill also seem to be damaged, but it was difficult to tell from the street. The news reports there were no injuries. My sympathies go out to these business owners. We'll keep you in our thoughts for a speedy and full recovery from this damage.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was glad that there were no reported injuries. The damage is pretty shocking, I do hope that the business' that were effected will be back soon. Chelsea Pharmacy has been a part of this community forever, Chelsea just wouldn't be the same without it!

I do have to compliment our Police and Fire Departments as well as all those who were called in to help with the fire. They handled everything from traffic control and crowd management (yes--there were plenty of people stopping to watch the fire) to containing and putting out the fire. I saw several of our volunteers in their regular work clothes out directing traffic and helping out. We really do have a community to be proud of.

Robyn Hargenrater

Mazenbloo said...

I read/watched the news on some local channels (WXYZ and Click on Detroit, Chelsea Standard and Mlive) to keep up with the news there. That is so sad that it happened. I hope that things go well with the rebuilding. This is NOT what Chelsea and local businesses needed to be dealing with in our struggling economy there.

I agree with Robyn...Chelsea does have something to be proud of, in it's police, fire and other local departments. And I have no doubts that there will be community support to help rebuild and revive the businesses affected by this horrible fire.

Missing you guys!