Firemen from various departments fight a fire in downtown Continental.
CONTINENTAL — Fire departments had to battle the weather and a fire in downtown Continental Friday afternoon. According to Continental Fire Chief Dean Williamson, just after 12:30 p.m. the fire department was called to a building fire in the 100 block of South Main Street at the northeast corner of Main and Maple streets. The building was the home to a business and two apartments.
The two-story building burned out of control while temperatures dipped below 0 and wind gusts of approximately 45 miles per hour complicated the response. The water in fire trucks kept freezing, and firefighters used the Continental Fire Department and two local businesses to thaw them out, before heading back out to the fire. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office posted on social media at around 5 p.m. asking Continental residents to please limit the use of water that evening because the fire departments needed it. They asked residents to hold off on doing laundry or any other activities not necessary for the next several hours.
The roof collapsed on the structure and all three are total loss. A fire wall kept the fire from spreading to the post office and a neighboring business. There were no injuries to the occupants of the building or to firefighters. Mutual aid was called in from around Putnam and surrounding counties. Firefighters and/or equipment from Continental, Defiance, Fort Jennings, Glandorf, Highland Township, Kalida, Leipsic, Miller City, Oakwood, Ottawa and Ottoville were on the scene.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
