LOOGOOTEE — The damage and loss Jason and Carol Jones are facing did not sink in immediately Wednesday morning when their business caught fire.
Later, during the night, was when the tragedy hit them, Jason Jones said. The couple, along with other family members, opened Cartridge Depot in 2009. The shop was one of seven buildings damaged by the billowing blaze initially reported at Rosie’s Shirt Shop in downtown Loogootee.
“I’m really emotional,” Jason Jones said. “I can’t pinpoint what exact emotions I’m feeling.”
He was in his store when the fire started.
“We did notice a flash of light,” Jones said. He peeked his head out and immediately saw a fire truck. “We didn’t think much of it at first.”
Jason Jones glanced out of the window to find out what was going on.
“I noticed the flames coming from Rosie’s,” Jones said. Rosie’s Store has been a downtown staple for around 25 years. His And Hers Beauty Salon was there for at least 30 years.
“It’s tragic,” Carol Jones said. “It was bad.”
The fire spread from Rosie’s Shirt Shop to His and Hers Beauty Salon and Laurie’s Flowers, along with Cartridge Depot and the city attorney’s office, Ippoliti Law.
Mayor Noel Harty was devastated.
“Yesterday, when I first arrived on the scene, there was no way to keep having tears in your eyes and from choking up,” Harty said. “Especially in a small town like ours … that’s half of our downtown businesses.”
And those buildings dated back to the 1800s.
“There’s no words that can describe what happened,” Harty said Thursday. “There’s no way to explain. To be in business yesterday morning, and one day later, everything’s gone.”
Harty, however, said no words would describe how the community came together to support everyone else.
Various businesses and people donated food to firefighters throughout the day. Restaurants didn’t charge the business owners of the burned buildings for dinner that night. Residents of the town held hands at a prayer vigil downtown.
Assisting agencies from neighboring communities also pulled together to help. About 100 firefighters from Loogootee Fire Department, Southeast Daviess County Fire Department, Montgomery FD, Cannelburg FD, Shoals FD, Washington FD, NSWC Crane and Martin County Civil Defense. Knox County Emergency Medical Services, Martin County Sheriff’s Department.
The state fire marshal office sent inspectors to Loogootee to investigate the cause of the fire Wednesday and Thursday.
Overall, four downtown businesses were complete losses, two structures were salvageable, though everything inside them (such as all the files in the city attorney’s office) was gone, and wind spread embers to a building across the street and burned a hole in the roof, according to Loogootee Fire Department Chief Morgan Huebner.
Huebner said the fire, which was first reported around 10 a.m. was under control around 5 p.m. Firefighters stayed at the scene overnight and were still putting out hot spots at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. No one was injured by the fire.
The next step, Harty said, is to figure out the cause of the fire and to seek funds to rebuild.
“I’m sure some sort of disaster relief is going to come,” Harty said.
For Paoli, it took about two years to fix the city’s downtown area after a fire in 2010 destroyed 12 apartments and four commercial spaces. Mark Jones, Paoli Town Council president and Paoli Fire Department firefighter, said it’s definitely not easy.
“It’s devastating to everybody, business owners, people in apartments, older people who grew up seeing those buildings that just aren’t there anymore,” Jones said. “It’s a heartache not easy to get over.
““It’s going to be a slow process getting back,” Jones said. “We were fortunate to have Hoosier Uplands come in and secure the property on the square. They developed it into retail space and apartments on the second level. We were very fortunate to have them come in. It’s worked out.”
The reopening of that area in Paoli was in November 2012.
“It took a while,” Jones said. “We had to sit there and look at the rubble for a year. It was a two-year process.”
And while Paoli did have Hoosier Uplands to help rebuild, Jones said it didn’t make the loss any easier.
“You lose people’s incomes and employees’ incomes,” Jones said. “A lot of times in these old towns, there’s apartments above (businesses), (residents) lose their homes and apartments.
“We wish the best for Loogootee and a quick recovering.”