By By NORMA LERNER / Dowagiac Daily News
EDWARDSBURG – Firefighters from eight departments fought stubborn flames erupting from a two-story apartment building in Edwardsburg Friday afternoon.
They were unable to save the building, built in 1881, but kept the fire from spreading to nearby structures.
A burning skillet in one of three upstairs apartments reportedly started the fire in the building at the corner of Lake Street and U.S. 12.
The fire started sometime around 4:30 p.m. Smoke was spotted by a Lake Street passerby who called the Edwardsburg Fire Department.
One of the fire trucks from Penn Township in Indiana which was called to the scene along with other units was delayed about 10 minutes by a train going through the village.
No injuries were reported by Ontwa-Township Edwardsburg Police Chief Kenneth Wray, who said everyone was out of the building.
There were no injuries reported to the approximately 100 firefighters who converged on the scene.
In addition to Edwardsburg, units were called from Penn Township, Harris Township, Cleveland Township, all of Indiana; Cassopolis Village, the City of Niles, Howard Township and Porter Township.
The old building once housed a funeral parlor, a theater, an opera house, the Bank of Edwardsburg, the Masonic Hall, a hardware and a home-improvement store.
There was one apartment downstairs, and the most recent business in the building was the Real Deal Resale Shop that moved out last month.
Firefighters worked to douse the fire until about 3 a.m. Water was hauled in by tankers and poured into huge tubs for the firefighters to pump on the fire from the top of the building.
Fire Chief Harold "Willie" Eltzroth said the fire was difficult to access because of the old building's several layers of walls and roof structure.
At one time, the loud alarm from a fire truck sounded for firefighters to get out of the building, which was filled with smoke. One firefighter said he was glad to get out of there. One building occupant was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation treatment.