The Jeffersonville Fire Department says they believe the flames on Friday were sparked by an electrical malfunction.
Firefighters were able to contain the fire quickly, and say it was the well-trained crew and a working sprinkler system that saved the building, which dates back to 1870.
Even though the historic building is still standing, there’s a lot of work to be done.
“You can smell the smoke,” said James Corbin, the director of operations for Goodwood Brewing, as he stepped into the building on Monday.
The fire was contained on the third floor, but the first and second floor have water damage.
Corbin was in the building when it caught fire. He said watching those flames was a “helpless feeling.”
“All I could think about was this is going to push back our opening a little bit,” he said.
He’d planned a multilevel entertainment complex in the building along Spring Street. He says he was prepared for the challenges of launching a business in a building that old.
“When you go into things like this, you prepare for the worst, you hope for the best,” he said. “You don’t prepare yourself for a fire. That’s something that I would have never prepared myself for.”
After three days he says he’s still struggling with the sight.
“Coming back up and seeing it like this, it’s kind of a punch in the gut,” said Corbin. “It slows us down a little bit but we will rebuild and we’ll come back stronger than ever.”
He’s still waiting on insurance assessments to know for sure, but hopes to open soon.
“I would like to be open by June 1, but I don’t know if that’s going to be feasible or not,” he said. “The goal is to rebuild and get this open as soon as possible.”
