I didn't find any other mention of this, so I'll start an item. Tonight there was a big fire in downtown Ann Arbor. I heard about it from Janice, who was driving on M-14 about 8pm and saw an immense column of smoke rising from the downtown area. I went outside, and I could see it from our house in southwest Ann Arbor. (Once again, I note the lack of a decent local news web site for the Ann Arbor area. For some time after I heard about the fire, it was not possible to determine what exactly was burning.) Apparently it was the Technology Center, the old industrial complex where Performance Network and Partners Press used to be, between West Washington and West Huron, west of the railway embankment. Possibly Illi's service station was damaged as well. This evening about 10:30, I came to my office on Thompson Street. The air downtown is full of smoke.25 responses total.
Illi's did not look at all affected by the fire. The fire was primarily in the old Ann Arbor Circuits end of the building, and broke out after the end nearest Illi's (which included the original home of Performance Network and the latest home of Ann Arbor Civic Theatre) had already been completely demolished. When I arrived on the scene, the main part of the fire seemed to be in the area by the northeast corner of the courtyard, which is where the building manager's office was when I worked in the building. The demolition had progressed about to the part of the building in which Clancy's Fancy hot sauce was being made, or about the middle of the east edge of the courtyard. The fire began around or just after 7pm. At a quarter to midnight, flames were still visible in a few places. Theories floating around, some mentioned to me by recent occupants of the building, suggest that some of the younger people who occupied the north end of the building in its last days and were rather unceremoniously expelled may have set the fire as a demonstration of their displeasure at being ousted. Another theory is that firefighters displeased with the recent round of layoffs in the AAFD contributed to the blaze. At least three departments are involved in fighting the fire; Ann Arbor, Pittsfield and Ypsilanti. At around 8 or 8:30, I was across Washington from the scene, and heard a really loud noise which sounded for all the world like the pump in an AAFD pump truck at the corner of Washington and Third seizing up and dying a miserable death, but that is pure speculation. The firefighters around the truck didn't look too happy.
(an AP wire story on this moved as early as 9:56pm, apparently submitted by WAAM-AM, but without identifying the location. a 10:37pm story suggests the smoke could be seen from 30 miles away, and that the fire might burn for several days.) (FWIW, I didn't notice any smoke on the horizon while approaching Ann Arbor from the west about an hour ago, but I wasn't looking, either.)
I first noticed it as a huge column of smoke when I came out of Nicholson's on Jackson almost at Zeeb. I was amused by the number of people who mistook me for a firefighter because I was wearing my (cutoff) BDU shorts and IATSE logo polo shirt. The IATSE bug looks a bit like the firefighter symbol, and the shirt says "Ann Arbor, MI" under the bug on the breast pocket.
I should know what Nicholson's sells, but I can't remember.
Risky adventures.
;-)
It would be cool if all of Ann Arbor burned..heh heh I would like to see the pretty flame.
Ah, OK, that brown stuff in the sky makes sense now. I was driving back from E. Lansing around 9pm or so.
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I saw it from Chelsea. WDIV reported sightings from Dearborn.
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Fire in A2? Damn. It wasn't visible from the UK ;-) Sabre - what a dumbass thing to say. No doubt we'll soon hear from you about ho evil all the people are who think the US deserved 9/11. They are (or they are at least *very* misguided), but that doesn't mean you aren't a shitfaced little hypocrite.
I just want to see the pretty flame<sabre gets all glassy eyed> Did anybody die?
According to the AA news, the smoke travelled upwind.
Awesome.
Steve and I saw the column of smoke as we approached on US 23; it looked Biblical. I forget how far north of Ann Arbor we were when we noticed it, but it was a good ways out. We drove around for a bit to try to locate where the fire was; then we drove down Miller because I had to reassure myself that it wasn't our house. Around 7th, Miller became gridlocked with all the traffic diverted from Huron; a volunteer directing traffic told us it was the Tech Center on fire. After I delivered Steve home, I found myself driving through the smoke plume in the Power Center. I was on my way to see a movie at the Michigan Theater, and you could smell the smoke faintly in the auditorium.
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I just saw that a large portion of the building had been knocked down yesterday afternoon. Then I heard that the building was on fire on the 10:00 news. I also heard that teh fire department had decided on containment rather than putting it out. lots of blackened structure when I passed by this afternoon.
Containment certainly makes sense for a building that was about to be demolished for the new YMCA. Hate to see a fire fighter injured in that situation.
Re #15: What?! They were burning bibles?
And the local news websites eventually pick up the story. Michigan Daily had it on their website before 11pm MLive had it at 11:15pm I'm not sure when the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press picked it up, but it was after 11:15 Why am I not at all surprised that a student paper (despite the lack of people around campus right now) managed to scoop 3 of the biggest "newspapers" in the area?
Who's Sam Drucker and why would something happening in Yakima be reported in Walla Walla? (this sounds so weird)
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Ah, okay. Never heard about it, but I guess that makes sense.
I thought I recognised Mr. Drucker's name, tod. :)
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