(Courtesy of The Pierce County Leader) PIERCE — The building located at 221 S. Locust Street (Highway 13) in downtown Pierce was completely destroyed by a fire that began around midnight Monday evening, April 1. The emergency call went out at 11:39 p.m. Monday, for a fire in the alley garage of the Expressions Floral flower shop.
Pierce Fire Chief Steve Dolesh said the two-story building was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene.
Chief Dolesh said the metal roof on the building contained the fire and heat inside, making it difficult to penetrate and get to the fire.
He said, “I just couldn’t risk putting anyone on that metal roof.”
Mutual aid was requested and firefighters from Hadar, Plain view, Osmond, Randolph, Battle Creek, and Norfolk responded. There were an estimated 40 to 50 firefighters on the scene, along with rescue and law enforcement personnel.
No one was injured from the fire. The apartment tenant escaped unharmed and residents from two surrounding houses were evacuated.
Fire was still visible in the roof of the upstairs apartment at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. An excavator was used Tuesday morning to remove the roof of the building’s upper story to get at the remaining hot spots. Firefighters were still on the scene at noon Tuesday and Highway 13 in Pierce was still closed to traffic.
The building currently housed three businesses and an upstairs apartment. Expressions Floral occupied much of the main floor, along with the UN-Tangled Salon, and Chilvers Abstract.
The building was owned by Don Reed for many years and operated as Reed’s Furniture, and before that was a residence built in the early 1900s. Reed added on to the original structure a number of times. Ken and Linda Peekenschneider purchased the property from Reed in 1993 and operated Home Center Specialties from the location. Current owner, Pam Buchholz, bought the building from Peekenschneiders in 2017 and it has been the home of Expressions Floral since. Buchholz has also been leasing space to the salon and abstract company.
The cause of the fire is under in vestigation.
