Friday morning fire damages Spring Avenue business building in Waukon ...

The Waukon Fire Department was called to 28 Spring Avenue in downtown Waukon at approximately 4 a.m. Friday, April 4 for a report of a fire in the three-building structure pictured in the photo at right. Waukon Fire Chief Dave Martin reported that a tenant in one of the two apartments in the back of the structure called building owner Rachel Curtin after he heard a smoke detector ringing in the front business area of the structure. Upon her arrival, smoke could be seen emerging from the front of the building, and a 911 call was placed dispatching the Waukon Fire Department to the scene.

Chief Martin said that the origin of the fire was in the front of the middle building of that structure but the cause of the fire is still under investigation, with the State of Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office having visited the site late that Friday morning and conducting the investigation that was reported as ongoing as of press time. Chief Martin said the fire spread into the roofing structure of the building complex, resulting in attack points having to be opened in the roof, in addition to attack points from the street level of the structure in both the front (from Spring Avenue) and rear (from Clinton Street) of the building. In all, the department volunteers were on scene for approximately three hours.

The middle building of the structure where the fire is said to have originated has housed Carol’s Closet for the past five years, a community resource that provides clothing, household items, and other basic needs to families and individuals in need. That service organization originated in Strawberry Point and opened its Waukon location in 2020. The contents of the Carol’s Closet business are considered to be a total loss, with that portion of the building suffering the greatest amount of structural fire damage. With the fire being contained mainly to that middle building, the two most adjacent buildings that were also part of the overall structure and housed an art studio (to the right) and a business that Curtin was working to open in the near future (to the left) suffered water and heavy smoke damage, with both the Erbal Ink Tattoos business and GF Mutual/Cook Agency building on each side of that three-building structure also suffering significant smoke damage and being temporarily closed as of press time Tuesday morning, April 8 for clean-up and recovery efforts. Submitted photo.