Fire Strikes Downtown Paullina, IA
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It's what firefighters are calling a "traveling blaze." 50 mph wind gusts carried the fire from business to business in downtown Paullina, Iowa.
Paullina Fire Chief, Brian Feltman, describes it saying, "It was blizzard conditions...zero visibility."
It started in an apartment complex. Many businesses are a total loss. And some folks know what this means for his community.
Paul Struve, from Paullina, IA, says, "I've lived in town my whole life and we've had a couple other large fires in downtown Paullina in the past but this is a huge section of the business district affected this time."
Other businesses, like United Foods – the only grocery store in town – will open again, but were damaged by smoke and water. That's hard on business and hard on people like owner, Lorin Brookfield.
Brookfield says, "I get emotional, I don't know, 33 years we've had here and we didn't want to lose it. Not this way. We're just fortunate we still have our business."
But Fire Chief, Feltman, says perhaps the businesses aren't the town's biggest loss.
Feltma adds, "Three people lost their homes, so that's probably worse that the businesses being lost. You can rebuild a business back up, I believe."
And that's exactly what the entire community plans on doing. Rebuilding. No matter how long it takes, or how cold it is outside.
Struve says, "Paullina definitely will pull together."
