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Highlands Today

Downtown Sebring Blaze

SEBRING MIDDLE CLOSED FRIDAY AS A PRECAUTION

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: November 30, 2007

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SEBRING — "Welcome to Our Salon," the sign states on the front door of a Lemon Avenue beauty shop as water flowed out the open entranceway Friday morning.

Firefighters battled an early morning blaze with thousands of gallons of water per minute, which a few hours later continued to run out of the building.

Instead of preparing to cut and style hair, Jennifer Bryan wondered if anything could be salvaged from her business, Hair Reflections Beauty Salon, located in a two-story building nearly destroyed by fire.
"I'm just blown away because that is how I make my money," she said. "If I can just get some curling irons or something to work with – I don't know what I'm going to do."

The fire displaced 22 people who lived in five apartments on the second floors of three interconnected buildings anchored by Highlands Plumbing.

No civilians and no fire personnel were injured.

At first glance the very pale green buildings appear as one large structure, but the Highlands Plumbing building is built with large bricks, the center building with the beauty saloon has standard bricks and the third building has a stucco facade.

A 911 call at 2:20 a.m. Friday alerted authorities to the fire.

Engine 14 from the downtown Sebring fire station arrived first on the scene at 2:24 a.m. as heavy smoke and flame billowed from the center building. An aerial truck and another engine arrived soon after.

"We took a defensive posture until we could get it knocked down," Sebring Fire Chief Brad Batz said at the scene. The blazed vented itself through the roof.

Aerial trucks blasted water from above as the engine mounted deluge guns and hand-held lines were used to attack the flames from the ground.

With four fire hydrants operating at capacity, Sebring Utilities was notified to activate water pumps to increase the pressure, Batz said. Pumps at Firemen's Field and Park Street brought the pressure up.

"These trucks flow so much volume, we can literally pull a hydrant out of the ground," he said. One truck at the scene can pump 1,750 gallons per minute with the fire engines able to pump 1,500 gallons per minute.

It took at least two hours to get the fire under control, Batz said. The majority of the fire was contained to the second floor and roof area of the buildings, but there was extensive smoke and water damage to the bottom floor and businesses.

The Avon Park Fire Department was called to aid in the effort along with Highlands County emergency officials. Personnel from the Desoto City and West Sebring volunteer fire departments also responded.

Because of the nature of the plumbing company, with PVC pipe and glue, etc., the school district was notified about canceling classes at Sebring Middle School, Batz said. If the fire could not be brought under control by the start of the school day there was concern that smoke may blow onto the campus, which is located directly behind the buildings.

Terry Eures, owner of the building and Highlands Plumbing, said his father bought the building in 1945. The plumbing business opened in another portion of the building in 1942.

The ground floor has two vacant business locations.

"I have no idea," if any of the three buildings are repairable, Eures said, as he stood in the middle of Lemon Street in front of the center building.

Kevin Shireman of the Division of State Fire Marshal said the fire was accidental and started in the kitchen of the apartment above the beauty salon. He narrowed the cause to either a coffee maker or the building's wiring.

Shireman was told the building housing the plumbing business was built in 1920.

Sebring Middle School parents were notified about the school's closure by the district's reverse 911 system.

The Deputy Superintendent's office said that the few students who were dropped off at the campus were taken to Woodlawn Elementary School until they could be picked up by their parents or relatives.

No determination has been made on whether or not the missed day of school will have to be made up.
Phil Attinger, public relations director for the Polk and Highlands county Red Cross chapters, said 13 American Red Cross volunteers were called to the scene to help the residents who lived in the apartments, who may have lost everything.

Depending on the needs of the individual families, the Red Cross was able to provide them with temporary shelter, emergency assistance for groceries and/or clothing, comfort kits (hygiene kits), Mickey Mouse and teddy bear stuffed toys to help comfort the children, landlord verification of a disaster to help in relocation, and, in addition to Red Cross assistance, donated Publix gift cards from Florida's Blood Centers.

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