MOUNT VERNON — The aftermath of last week’s fire at 201 S. Main St., in downtown Mount Vernon, involves massive cleanup work in the Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s Buchwald Center.
South Main Street fire destroys building
Videos, stories and photos pretaining to the fire of 201 South Main Street in Mount Vernon Ohio on October 25, 2010.
Facilities Management Director Denny Taylor said today the basement is pretty much destroyed. Among other damage, the four feet of water which flooded the building knocked over kilns and negatively impacted the electrical system.
“The fire department did a wonderful job,” Taylor said. “They saved this building. It could have been gone, because the beams in the basement adjacent to the other building are charred.”
The first, second and third floors sustained some smoke damage, the skylight had to be broken out and some holes were made in the wall abutting the former Kresge building. Some water also traveled through the elevator shaft into the building MVNU is renovating for nursing education.
Taylor said professional restoration companies are expected this week to evaluate the damage and develop a plan to clean the building. Besides the basement, Taylor estimated the cleanup will not take an inordinate amount of time. He will know more about the timeline and costs after the evaluation is completed.
Taylor said the university has been offered the use of the Central Ohio Technical College building on South Main Street for some of the displaced Buchwald Center classes, and those will shortly “move across the street.”
