Fire in Bisbee burns two buildings on Main Street

UPDATED 7:30 p.m.

The Bisbee Fire Department responded to a major fire on Main Street late Wednesday night. It damaged two historic buildings on Main Street in Old Bisbee.

According to the town's Facebook page, the fire scorched two buildings: Many Fine Things and Bisbee Oil and Vinegar. Crews worked all day Thursday to keep an eye on hot spots and other smoldering parts of the building. Bisbee Mayor Ken Budge said Bisbee Fire Department arrived at the scene at 9:16 p.m., three minutes after receiving the call on Wednesday night. He says the fire started at the back of the building before moving upstairs and taking off the roofs.

“Luckily when the town burned down many, many years ago they built it out of brick this time so that helped us a lot in order to create a fire wall so we were able to contain it. With that, that helps us rebuild," Budge said.

Bisbee Fire put an "all call" out to the other departments Wednesday to help battle the flames. Naco, Palominas and Douglas fire departments responded to the call. Many people believe that if it wasn't for Douglas' ladder truck the fire would have continued to spread down Main Street.

Mike Gregg and his wife were spending Valentine's Day in Bisbee and stayed at the Letson Loft Hotel, located next to the buildings that caught on fire. He and his wife were woken up by bricks falling into their room.

“We smelled the smoke and all of a sudden it sounded like an explosion and it was actually the wall falling through the skylight in our kitchen,” he said.

Gregg and his wife knocked on all the other hotel doors to help people evacuate.

“One of the young ladies argued with me, didn’t believe me," he said. "I said 'look up' and there was a skylight you could see the flames shooting like crazy. So everybody did go out. And as they were going down the firefighters were coming up.”

No one was injured as a result of the fire.

Budge spent the day coordinating with City officials and speaking with the owners of the property to come up with a plan to help reopen the businesses that were closed Thursday morning.

“We’re getting our plan together and trying to make sure that we can get back to commerce as much as possible because the weekend’s coming up and that’s a busy time and this is an important part of our historic town,” he said.

The bottom half of Main Street was closed most of the day as a safety precaution. Budge says the center portion of the street will remain closed indefinitely, affecting six local business.

“Those brick walls are so unstable we can’t allow anybody on Main Street for fear that they’ll come down on somebody or car so we’re just kinda putting our self together and figuring our plan right now,” he said.

The city and owners are working together to ensure the safest options take place. But, right now the future of the buildings is unknown.

What is known, is this will be the talk of the town, and something that's never forgotten.

“It was quite the night that’s for sure," Gregg said. "I’m going to remember this valentines day for a long time.”

----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE

• Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
• Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Twitter