Home town Wheel Horse dealership gone...

[JimD 3,345]

destroyed by a massive fire in Garrettsville, Ohio this afternoon. Miller Lawn and Garden, along with several other businesses in the downtown historical section of Garrettsville was lost to an enormous fire today.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/2014/03/22/garrettsville-fire-main-street/6737031/

 

[can whlvr 991]

what a shame,hope no one was hurt

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,040]

I am getting a little sick of fires....

[Tankman 3,515]

Awful news. Hope all are well.

[dodgemike 52]

I live next county over. No injuries

reported. It was a quaint little

town and some of the buildings

are from the 1800's. I had no idea

there was a WH dealer there.

Maybe I should get smart enough

to ask some members here. My

dad bought what we think was the

last WH at the little shop in our

town. I know I bought the last set

of wheelweights. The poor old owner sold everything got.cancer

and passed away.

Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2

[Martin 2,130]

thats too bad Jim....

 

i can honestly say you didn't leave me laughin' with that post........

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,558]

Its sad news....and with no new dealerships in the future its even sadder.

Glad to hear of no injuries.

Mike..........

[JimD 3,345]

This whole end of town on Main St. is a very historical place. These buildings are from the early to mid 1800's. In the picture below, the store front on  the left with the bench in front and the flames coming through the front was Miller Lawn and Garden, the dealer that sold Wheel Horse tractors from it's beginning till shortly before Wheel Horse folded.

 

 

They had some old Wheel Horse memorabilia in the store as well. I remember one of those red folding "director" style chairs and they once showed me what I believe was probably a one of a kind Wheel Horse pocket knife display in a lock box showcase that had only one knife missing that had been sold long ago. I tried to buy it from them but she wanted to get an appraisal first and I never followed up to see if she had a price. Sadly I'm sure it was destroyed unless she sold it to someone prior to this fire. I wish I had asked to take a picture of them. I had often wanted to write a story about their dealership for Redsquare but never got around to asking them about it. I hope they reopen their store somewhere in town to keep their history in the village alive.

Edited March 23, 2014 by JimD

[neil 2,398]

That is  really tragic tp lose a building of that age . even more tragic to lose another dealership .

Thanx for the pics  Jim

[JimD 3,345]

This historical picture shows how it looked in the late 1800's against what it looks like after the fire...

 

 

and the video below shows more of how things have looked over the years, and how we are already bouncing back!

 

Edited March 23, 2014 by JimD

[squonk 38,939]

Why do I see a lack of fire fighting eq.? We just had a big fire a villiage south of me a week with the same size bldgs. and I counted 4 ladder trucks among all of the other equipment in the pics I saw. We had at least 17 tankers involved with 2 portable ponds set up.

Edited March 23, 2014 by squonk

[HorseFixer 2,012]

_{Bad News Jim!   Hate to hear that. Do you think they will rebuild?}   

 

_~Duke

[JimD 3,345]

Bob, there has been no word from the business owners as to whether they will rebuild. I guess it's just too early to think about it while they are contemplating their loss.

 

Squonk, first you have to understand that we are a small rural town surrounded by other small rural towns and townships. Each fire department has mutual aid agreements with several other neighboring departments close by. All of those departments responded with most everything they have, leaving their own communities largely unprotected. What was amazing was the response from communities that have no mutual aid agreement with Garrettsville. In all 34 fire departments responded with trucks and firefighters to battle the blaze. Lack of equipment? I don't think so.

 

Tanker shuttle...

 

Portable ponds...

 

 

Ladder trucks...

 

[dodgemike 52]

Squonk; 15 departments responded. Two were shuttling

water and one big pumper pulled

water from the river. The main st.

there is very narrow two lanes.

Rumor has it there was a co. doing

hot tar on the roof. I wouldnt want

to be that outfit! I know it sounds

like I am defending them but many

of my friends are fireman and the

TV pictures really dont show the

entire effort.

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[KATO 115]

What a shame to see those old buildings destroyed...let alone those peoples lively hoods

we have had more than a few large fires in local communities here in the last few years.

Im startin to wonder if its not the new sign of rebellion or something

[dodgemike 52]

Sorry , Jims post wasnt there when

I started mine. Suffice to say there

was a massive effort to surround

and drown.

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[squonk 38,939]

My main question was by the pics posted I didn't see much. I wasn't implying there was a small response. The fire here was in a village offed than 1000 people And the buildings were surrounded. We had company's here from almost 40 miles away. I didn't

Mean to offend anyone. It just looked stange from what I saw a week ago.

[JimD 3,345]

Mike, no offense taken. I assume you saw the views from the first pics I posted which wasn't a good view of all that was going on. Much of the equipment was staged on two other streets that weren't in view from the Main St. vantage point.

[jackhammer 544]

Any way you look at it , for a small town that is devastating. Without any injury or deaths in those upper floors I think everyone was very fortunate.

[squonk 38,939]

Here's some pics and video of the Ovid N.Y. fire. about half of the responding equipment went roaring by my house and my house is less than 30 feet from the highway! 

 

video has propane tanks exploding! 

 

 

 

[KC9KAS 4,741]

Very sad to see this happen to anyone.

Glad there weren't any injuries.

 

In 1984 we lost a furniture factory to fire. We had around 20 fire departments assisting in one form or another.

One department had a 6" pump at the city lake about 1/4 mile from the fire and kept us supplied with water, but a furniture factory without sprinklers is way to great of a fireload to save.

[JC 1965 1,528]

Really sorry to hear this news Jim. Glad no one was hurt. Last night my wife and I were watching the 11 pm local news and they did a report about the fire. When they mentioned that it was in Garrettsville Ohio I told my wife I thought one of the Red Square members lived there. I tried to think who it was and then remembered it was you. Hope the businesses can rebuild.

[rexman72 210]

jim that is terrible.sorry to hear this

[fireman 1,021]

That just sucks.

 

Not for nothing but the fire fighter in the third pic down is crazy for standing were he is. It looks like that building is about to collapse out into the street. Good way to not go home after the fire!

[hm12460 53]

Very tragic loss for the owners and community. Glad to hear no one was hurt. What makes it especially tragic is the loss due to someone's negligence.