Effingham Business Destroyed by Fire Monday Evening

Effingham's old bowling alley on North Third Street, most recently the home of Designer Consigner, was destroyed by fire Monday night.

Firefighters responded at 6:48pm after receiving a call from employees of The Orchard Inn, located directly to the south of the building. A full still was called before crews even arrived, due to the heavy smoke that was coming from the building, quickly carried down Third Street by the strong winds and easily visible for miles as reported to us by many listeners. 

Crews initially gained entry to the building, but were pulled out quickly, with Fire Chief Joe Holomy telling our Greg Sapp they moved out of the building just before "it lit up". Two firefighters were injured, one taken to HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital after falling on the ice, and another that returned to the station. The firefighter who returned to the fire station later returned to help fight the fire, while the firefighter taken to the hospital got stitches and was later released.

Afterwards, firefighters began cutting through the south wall of the building to access the fire. A firefighter on scene told us it wasn't possible to attack the fire from the roof, due to its bowed design, which collapsed quickly once fire began breaking through it.

Firefighters were also working to make sure fire didn't reach The Orchard, located directly south and very near to Designer Consigner. The Orchard closed as fire broke through the roof next door, due to the heavy smoke inside the building.

Due to the fire's proximity to power lines overhead, electric service to the lines was shut off, which discontinued service to the east side of the city for a time. Ameren Illinois crews later helped re-route the service so that power was restored to every customer except those in the block around the fire scene. Once icicles that formed on the power lines over the fire scene from the spray of water poured on the buillding could be removed, power could be restored to that final block of customers.

The cold was more than a nuisance; a fire hydrant near the ice store north of the scene froze up. Fire crews had to run hose all the way north to Evergreen Avenue to insure sufficient water to fight the fire.

Flames could be seen coming from the ruins of the building throughout the early part of the day Tuesday, with many local passersby contacting the fire department of 911 about what they saw. However, the fire this morning was by design, as firefighters decided to let the fire burn itself out. Work was getting underway Tuesday afternoon to take down any remaining portions of the building.