GRAFTON, Ohio — Firefighters from across Lorain County battled a large fire that raced through historic downtown Grafton Monday morning damaging or destroying four buildings along Main Street.
Crews were called to 216 Bistro, 931 Main Street, at around 8:45 a.m. after fire was found inside the building. Witnesses say the fire quickly raced through the century-old building causing it to collapse.
"It was the craziest fire I've ever seen," said Bill Skaggs who raced to the fire after noticing smoke downtown. "It was big!"
Investigators say the fire then spread to a neighboring insurance office and apartments, then to Lu's Pizza next door and finally to a former barbershop.
The building 216 Bistro occupies has collapsed, with smoke billowing from the roof of Lu's Pizza, according to a News 5 reporter on scene.
Lu's Pizza in downtown #Grafton. @WEWS pic.twitter.com/dPtmGYdfr0
— Scott Noll (@ScottNoll_News) April 1, 2019
Watch the massive fire from AirTracker 5 below:
Seven apartments were damaged or destroyed in the fire.
"I'm really nervous because we have all our personal belongings in there," said Taylor Twardzik. She had just taken to her to school when the fire broke out. She returned minutes later to flashing lights, smoke and uncertainty.
"Me and my grandma have lived here for 11 years," said Twardzik, "so all our memories are in this house."
Grafton's Village Administrator said it's too soon to know what caused the fire. The State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating.
"You're dealing with buildings that are 120-150 years old and basically just from the structure...an active fire is something you have to really knock down extremely fast to try to save any building like that," said Price.
Price said only one person was injured. He said the owner of 216 Bistro was in the building's basement when the fire started and suffered minor smoke inhalation.
The Red Cross is working with families whose apartments were damaged by the fire.
