Other - Retail, Retail

Decatur, IL – Sprinkler system helps prevent spread of small business fire; Neighboring businesses spared

Kemper Willcut II expected today to be a busy day filling last-minute Easter orders. Instead, it will be spent cleaning up from an overnight fire that will keep the Del’s Popcorn Shop, 142 N. Merchant St., closed for an undetermined amount of time.

The fire, which was contained to the rear of the building, was reported shortly after midnight. Decatur Fire Department personnel arrived to find a dumpster behind the business on fire and the flames climbing the wall toward the second floor.

Battalion Chief Todd McKenzie said it appears the fire breached the building where the electricity enters the structure. Sprinklers were able to prevent the spread of the fire to the front of the building, but the entry point provided a pathway to the second floor.

The fire was contained to the one building, with neighboring businesses suffering smoke damage. Sloan’s Calzones planned to be open for lunch today after doing some minor cleanup. TapRoot Restaurant will be open tonight, with some limitations.

John Redden, owner of TapRoot, said the bar section of the restaurant would be open tonight, with the regular menu available. As employees helped to clean up and rid the business of the lingering smell of smoke, Redden hoped to have the entire restaurant opened by Saturday.

“Everybody got lucky with this,” he said. For Marina Loehr, the already scheduled off-day became a clean-up day. Scheduled to be closed in observance of Good Friday. Loehr spent Friday morning lighting candles in her store and opening the doors to get the smell of smoke out of the business.

After a look-around the store, she was optimistic there was no damage to any of the structure or the collection of dresses hanging up throughout he store.

Many store owners echoed the sentiment of McKenzie as they assessed the damage.  “It definitely could have been much worse,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said 30 firefighters and eight trucks were on the scene and off-duty personnel were called in to cover the city in the event of another fire elsewhere. They cleared the scene at 4:32 a.m.