Copyright Katie Johnson, used with permission
Yesterday (Sunday, March 14, 2010), we told you about a fire at 7212 and 7214 Woodlawn Ave NE which impacted both a local business and school. The fire, which was caused by by an overheated power cord, did not cause any injuries. The unfolding story and pictures of the fire can be seen here.
Since then, we have visited the site of the fire and confirmed several details.
7214 Woodlawn Ave NE, on the left, and 7212 Woodlawn Ave NE , on the right
We spoke with Ingrid Hurlen, Community Development Coordinator at Billings Middle School, which is primarily located at 7217 Woodlawn Ave NE. Billings used 7212 Woodlawn Ave NE, one of two adjoining spaces that was impacted by the fire, as an auxillary computer classroom space.
Ms. Hurlen explained that when the heat built up in 7214 Woodlawn Ave NE, the space that was on fire, the front windows blew out. Many people saw and heard this, and called 9-1-1 right away.
Happily, the Billings Middle School computer lab was not severally damaged in the fire. When Billings retrofitted the space, they put in a fire wall and fire doors. These additions likely saved the classroom. However, fire fighters did have to break in through the back door of the Billings space, in order to access the fire next door.
In addition to the damage to the door, the Billings classroom suffered from smoke damage. Several textbooks and teaching materials need airing out. While no computers were affected, the electricity has been turned off in the building and the machines are currently unusable.
At this point, it is unclear how structurally sound the space is, and Ms. Hurlen was not yet sure if Billings would be able to once again use it as an auxilliary classroom.
Billings Middle School computer lab
The space adjoining the Billings space, 7214 Woodlawn Ave NE, appears to have been compltely destroyed by the fire.
A small independently-owned business operated out of this space. While we don’t have the name of the business, we did learn from commenter Kelly that it is a family-owned computer business, and that the family lives a block from the site of the fire. Ms. Hurlen confirmed that it is a computer business.
“We’re all devastated by this,” said Ms. Hurlen. “The gentleman that runs the business in that space is just devastated and we really feel for him. We’ve told him, anything we can do to help, we’ll do.”
7214 Woodlawn Ave NE
Update, Tuesday, 8 a.m.: Green-Lake-based visual journalist David Ryder has posted some heartbreaking photographs that he snapped at Sunday’s fire. David writes:
Taylor Stage, who works next door at Mockingbird Books, described the scene: “We ran out the door, looked to our left, and all we saw was glass exploding out of the building.” The cause of the fire was an overheated power cord in a small computer-related business owned by Green Lake resident John Powers.
