Multiple fires as Executive Inn nears implosion day.
Roll on 8 November 2009. With any luck, once the blast and resulting clean-up is over, I will never again have to write about the demolition of the Executive Inn, a saga that seems to have begun around the time Methuselah was a boy and which has had more twists and turns than a Michael Jackson dance routine.
With the assistance of some very helpful (and, no doubt, knowledgeable) TV executives, the demolition contractor recently decided to implode the five-storey building this coming Sunday. All that was left was a little pre-weakening of the structure. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, plenty, according to FireFighting News which reports that crews were called to the building to tackle “multiple fires”. Engine companies and a ladder truck from the Owensboro Fire Department responded to the call of the blaze, which was reported by the demolition company crews at the hotel, at 2.35 p.m. Firefighters cleared the scene at 7:15 p.m.
The fires, which caused no appreciable damage to the structure and caused no injuries, started after torches were used by crews trying to cut through the steel I-beams that make up the superstructure of the building.
According to Owensboro Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill VanWinkle, the demolition crew was extremely helpful. “They’re super people. They were more than willing to go with our firefighters to show them where the fires were, though we didn’t take them,” VanWinkle said. “We’re going to work with them Monday before they resume cutting with the torches, making sure they have a water supply to prevent anything from happening in the future.”
