Fire destroys old Ravenna commercial building; no injuries reported
A fire destroyed an vacant South Chestnut Street commercial building Friday evening, but there were no injuries said Ravenna Fire Lt. Brad Ryczek.
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"It was an old abandoned commercial building that was being torn down," said Ryczek.
He said the fire department was called to 645 S. Chestnut Street at around 5 p.m. to find the roughly 20,000-square-foot, two story building engulfed.
"They had a bunch of scrap or wood salvaging stored in there," said Ryczek. "The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but it was fully involved when we got there on scene and it took about six hours to finally extinguish the whole establishment because of a heavy fire load."
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In addition, said Ryczek, there were a lot of materials being stored outside the building as well, making it difficult to get to and requiring backhoes and excavators to clear paths for firefighters while attempts were made to extinguish the fire from above.
"It was quite the taxing fire," said Ryczek.
Ryczek said Kent, Mantua-Shalersville, Ravenna Township, and Rootstown fire departments provided mutual aid.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Fire destroys old Ravenna commercial building; no injuries reported
