Fire destroys downtown Chippewa Falls building - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Chippewa Falls (WQOW) - In Chippewa Falls, the smell of smoke is still in the air.

A fire destroyed a downtown apartment building overnight.  One person was taken to Regions Hospital with burns to his hands,  firefighters also had to rescue a woman from the second floor.  The fire chief says fighting the fire was tricky because the apartments were connected to other buildings on the block.

Chippewa Falls Fire Chief, Tom Larson, says," We in the fire service have target hazards in a community where we train harder and pre-plan harder, and discuss how we're going to do tactics, and this was definitely one of them, this block of Spring Street."

The building was also home to two businesses.   There's a lot to clean up, and there are some questions to answer as firefighters investigate what caused the fire.

Flames that burned into the early morning hours Wednesday have left a mess for building owners. 

Dave Raihle owns one of the buildings that sits adjacent to the property where the fire started.

"By the time I had got here, the roof had burned through on the other building and my building had started on fire. It will be able to be restored. It sounds like it's going to be a fairly significant loss in an excess of 80, to 90 thousand dollar loss for the building. But the saddest thing is it will probably be a month or two before we get our tenants back in," says, Raihle.  

But the building where the fire began, is beyond repair. 

"That building there is going to have to be taken down because it's unsafe. We're going to have to have the street closed here for a few days before they do some engineering assessments on it," says, Chief Larson.   

Touch of Class Ink has shut its doors. They are one of the businesses suffering from the loss, but also trying to keep things in perspective. 

"You know, it's just kind of a whirlwind right now, you know, we don't really know what's going to happen," says Zech Galindo, a Co-Owner of Touch of Class Ink.    

"It's replaceable, lives aren't. And luckily everybody made it out ok. So, that's what matters," says, Touch of Class Ink Co-Owner Morgan Crabb. 

There are still some unanswered questions. Mainly, how the fire started. Fire Chief Tom Larson believes some kind of electrical problem caused the fire. He also says earlier this week, tenants had filed a complaint with the city. 

"There was an electrician here yesterday, working and the building inspector was following up on an electrical complaint. We're not sure what all of that means yet but there were people working in the building yesterday," says Chief Larson. 

The Red Cross is helping renters in the apartment building find food, clothing and a temporary place to stay.

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UPDATE: As of 9:00 Wednesday morning, the Chippewa Falls Fire Department was still on scene, knocking out hotspots at the fire. 15 and 15 1/2 Spring Street are completely destroyed, including the Hong Kong restaurant and Touch of Class Ink Tattoo parlor, along with 6 apartment buildings above. 4 of those were occupied. The fire is believed to have started in one of those. 80 percent of the roof caved in to the apartments below. 

11 and 11 1/2 Spring Street were damaged by smoke and water.

The Chippewa Falls Fire Department has sent home mutual aid from Eau Claire, Chippewa Fire District, and Tilden Fire Departments. They expect to be on scene for several hours more.

Insurance companies for the building and apartments will be inspecting the damage. 

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Chippewa Falls (WQOW) – A massive fire destroys at least one downtown Chippewa Falls building, and damages at least two others. The fire broke out at an apartment building above the Hong Kong House. 

"I seen smoke coming up through the screen because I had the window open up front," says Steven Brennan.

He could only stand and watch, as flames destroyed his downtown Chippewa Falls apartment building.

"I seen the reflections of the red lights in the window, and the next thing, they were yelling "is anybody in there" and so I crawled out to the stairwell leading down to the street," Steven says.

A fire broke out around midnight Wednesday morning at an apartment building above 15 and 1/2 Spring Street.

"Very very fast fire. A police officer drove by here at 12:05 and saw nothing. At 12:12 we got called and the whole back of the building on the south side was fully involved top to bottom. Stairway was burned off, there was flames coming out second story windows, flames coming out of the roof after just a few minutes of being on scene," says Chippewa Falls Fire Chief Tom Larson.

One woman had to be rescued out of her second story apartment building by the Chippewa Falls Fire Department. Another person was taken to the hospital for burns on their hands.

Three hours into the fire, flames could still be seen coming out of the building. Nearly 50 firefighters from multiple fire departments battled the blaze.

"It spread through the attic and then the attic collapsed into the apartments and then the apartments collapsed into the store fronts, so once that started doing that we had to go defensive and get everybody out," Chief Larson says.

Because the 120-year old buildings are all interconnected, Chief Larson says a fire here is one of his worst nightmares.

"We in the fire service have target hazards in a community where we train harder and pre-plan harder, and discuss how we're going to do tactics, and this was definitely one of them, this block of Spring Street," says Chief Larson.

But Steven says even though his apartment is destroyed, and all of his belongings are gone, he's just glad none of the tenants in the six occupied apartments were hurt.

"I'm just glad the tenants got out alright," says Steven.

The fire chief says residents had filed a complaint with the city, and a city building inspector was out Tuesday at the building inspecting the electrical equipment. He believes the cause of the fire was electrical in nature, but it is still under investigation.

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Chippewa Falls (WQOW) -- Crews are still on the scene of a massive fire in downtown Chippewa Falls.  Fire Chief Tom Larson called it a very fast-moving fire.

It started just after midnight Wednesday morning, in one of the apartments above the Hong Kong House, on Spring Street. Chief Larson says it's believed the cause was electrical. The building has been completely gutted and nearly all of the roof has collapsed.

Around 40 to 50 firefighters responded and as of about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, flames could still be seen. One woman had to be rescued out of a window by the fire department. Chief Larson also says one person was taken to the hospital with hand burns.

The buildings on the block are over 100 years old, something that the fire chief says made the fire spread fast and made it extremely difficult to fight.

"Very, very fast fire," said Chief Larson. "A police officer drove by here at 12:05 and saw nothing. At 12:12 we got called and the whole back of the building on the south side was fully involved top to bottom. Stairway was burned off, there was flames coming out second story windows, flames coming out of the roof after just a few minutes of being on scene."

As of 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, the fire was contained but not out. The fire chief says crews are expected to be on scene for several more hours.

One more note -- Chief Larson says the residents in the apartment building had recently filed a complaint with the city.  There are no further details about that complaint, but an inspector was at the building Tuesday to check on the electrical system.

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Chippewa Co. (WQOW) - UPDATE: As of 3:40 a.m., crews were still working to put out the flames.

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Chippewa Co. (WQOW) - UPDATE: Fire department says 2/3 of the roof above the Hong Kong building has collapsed. They're regrouping right now, trying to figure out if it's safe to send anyone inside the building.

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Chippewa Co. (WQOW) - Several fire crews are battling a fire in downtown Chippewa Falls. The fire is burning in multiple buildings on Spring Street between Bridge and Bay Streets. One building has been completely gutted as area crews continuing to respond. Eau Claire Fire has arrived on scene to assist the Chippewa Falls Fire Department as well as the Chippewa Fire District.

According to an eye witness, he could smell and see smoke around midnight. Police had the man and other nearby residents evacuate their building near the fire. The witness also said fire crews rescued a woman from the building that was on fire. Her condition is unknown at this time. 

We have a reporter on scene and will be updating this story as more information becomes available.