BROKEN BOW, Neb.—Demolition of a century-old brick building was underway in downtown Broken Bow after an April fire that damaged five businesses and caused more than $6 million in damages.
Three of the businesses have since moved to new locations nearby, and store owners say they’ve been too busy working to think about their losses.
Investigators say the fire started when a portable lamp accidentally came into contact with sawdust.
The fire gutted the building and forced five businesses out: American Family Insurance, Lyne’s Appliance, Chapin’s Furniture, Gary Fenton’s Photo Center and Chapin’s Square One.
“I haven’t had time to think about it, which may be a good thing,” said Matt Lyne. “It was a building. That’s all it was—a building that burned down. I don’t have any sentimental attachment to it.”
Only the Photo Center and Square One did not reopen.
Fenton said he has moved on from the fire, considering job offers and remodeling his house, but he still sometimes answers his home phone by saying, “Photo Center.”
“You’ll think about something and you’ll realize, ‘Oh my gosh, that got burned up, too,'” Fenton said.
No injuries were reported in the fire.
The brick building destroyed by the fire dates to 1889 and was in a five-block area that last November was put on the National Register of Historic Places.
All that remains four months later is a few piles of charred wood, concrete chunks and broken bricks—all expected to be cleared by the end of the week.
The Broken Bow fire marked the third time since October that fire has ravaged a business district in the state.
On Oct. 20, a block in York was heavily damaged by fire. On Oct. 29, the former Uerling’s Furniture building in Hastings was destroyed.
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Information from: The Grand Island Independent,
