Fire burns down portions of former Goodwill building in Springfield

A massive fire at a former Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries facility on Springfield's north side Saturday morning burned down portions of the vacant building.

Springfield Fire Marshal Ed Canny Jr. said Monday two people were unaccounted for after the blaze.

Fire officials have been working with Springfield Police and Helping the Homeless director Julie Benson on the identities of at least a dozen people who were known to shelter in the building.

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Canny said they were still trying to enlist cadaver dog teams from the Metro East area to search the scene.

Springfield Fire Chief Brandon Blough said neighbors said it was common knowledge that people were staying in the building, which had been vacated in 2013.

Based on building size, Blough said the fire was the biggest in the city since the blaze at the former Weaver Manufacturing plant in the 2200 block of South Ninth Street in 1979.

The fire at Weaver's, which also had been unoccupied for several years, spread to several other businesses and injured two firefighters.

The Springfield Fire Department was alerted to the heavy fire at 815 N. 11th St., formerly home to the International Shoe Co. factory and a Goodwill outlet store, at about 4:45 a.m. on Christmas Eve.

Blough said Monday that more than 48 hours later there were still hot spots cropping up, which crews were addressing.

A section of roofing has particularly been difficult to put water on, he added.

When firefighters arrived Saturday morning, they immediately called for an upgraded response and more resources due to the large fire. The condition of the building, its size and the aggressiveness of the blaze forced crews to focus on protecting the surrounding area from picking up the fire.

While the roof, second floor and exterior walls collapsed as a result of the fire, firefighters managed to protect a large, adjoining building from being burned. The building was attached but separate, Blough said.

Heavy timbers, which were part of the construction, "made for a lot of fire load," Blough said.

The building as a whole was a little over 40,000 square feet.

Subzero temperatures and high winds made the fire extremely difficult to battle and crews were rotated in about every hour, he said. About 100 firefighters were at the scene at one time or another, Blough added.

Aerial operations were using about 1,000 gallons of water a minute and that lasted several hours, he said. Several inches of ice built up on 11th Street between Enos and Phillips streets.

An extra engine was brought in to make sure embers flying from the building didn't damage residences in the area.

Blough said that some firefighters had frostbite from being out in the cold temperatures, but no one was seriously injured.

The Sangamon Mass Transit District provided a rehab bus to allow firefighters a chance to warm up before returning to duty.

According to SangamonLink, the plant was built in the late 19th century originally as the Springfield Furniture Co. It became a shoe factory and eventually the International Shoe Co. in 1910. The shoe factory reached peak employment of 650 people in 1930.

Goodwill Industries bought the factory complex after the International Shoe Co. shuttered in 1964 and operated the outlet store there until 2013 when the building was "literally crumbling," according to Goodwill's then-president and CEO.

In 2015, a Chicago-area development group and architect expressed interest in purchasing and renovating the building. Plans called for a housing unit with 25 three-bedroom apartments, 13 two-bedroom apartments and 12 one-bedroom apartments.

Sandy Robinson, who at the time was at the helm of the city’s Office of Community Relations, made the connection between Goodwill and the Lombard developers, according to SJ-R archives.

Canny said it was the second fire within a week in which people were believed to be in the structure.

A person known to shelter at a two-story brick structure destroyed by fire Thursday afternoon was later accounted for, he said.

Blough commended the Springfield Police Department, Public Works, CWLP, the Salvation Army and American Red Cross for assisting firefighters during Saturday's blaze.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Massive fire in Springfield destroys part of old Goodwill building