Photo courtesy of Chief Damvelt
By Pat Maurer
Correspondent
A fire Wednesday morning completely destroyed a 40 by 64-foot pole building, owned by Tom and Barlinba Ciesia, in the 1,300 block of North Bringold Avenue.
Harrison Fire Chief Chris Damvelt said the call came in at 10 am Wednesday. He said the owner’s wife was in the pole building “to feed their cats and dogs,” when she noticed that a fire had started in the shop area of the building.
Damvelt said the building had two rooms on the ground floor: a shop in the back and storage room in front. He said there was also an upstairs loft, that was originally planned to be living quarters for the family, but they had opted to have a mobile home set adjacent to the pole barn instead.
“The barn and all of the contents are a total loss,” Damvelt said. “The fire was so hot it damaged the siding on the mobile home.”
He said the cause of the fire is not yet known, and added there were no injuries other than a slight case of smoke inhalation by Tom Ciesia, which was treated at the scene.
He reported that the Harrison Fire Department had a lot of help extinguishing the blaze. They were assisted at the scene by Lincoln Township Fire Department, who he said was the first to arrive. “They are our neighbors,” he added. Also at the scene were Clare, Gladwin, Marion, Surrey Township and Garfield Township Fire Departments, assisting with manpower and equipment. Vasher Excavating was there with an excavator to pull down the building sides, and the Clare County Road Commission and Mobile Medical Ambulance Service were also at the scene.
Damvelt reported that firefighters were not able to clear the scene until approximately 3:30 pm.