The Associated Press

GALLIPOLIS – Fire damage to a block of 19th century buildings downtown is estimated at $1 million.

Monday, August 06, 2001

GALLIPOLIS – Fire damage to a block of 19th century buildings downtown is estimated at $1 million.

Fire Chief Bob Donnally, who made the estimate, said the fire started Saturday evening in a clothing store directly across from the city’s riverfront park and spread to three adjacent buildings.

The clothing store building was destroyed and the others heavily damaged.

The state fire marshal’s office was investigating but Donnally said he thought the fire was accidental.

The burned buildings had stone and masonry exteriors, but their frames and floors were wood.

”There were no fire walls and few sprinklers,” Donnally said. ”One good fire wall would have stopped the fire in one building.”

Instead, the fire spread in both directions, forcing the evacuation of five second-floor apartments.

Firefighters from Gallipolis and 21 other fire departments, including six from neighboring West Virginia, fought the blaze. So much water was used that the city had difficulty supplying fire crews, Donnally said.

Three firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion, he said.

When a city water main broke, firefighters pumped water directly from the Ohio River onto the blaze.

The fire was under control by midnight but was not extinguished until 2 p.m. Sunday.