Fire destroys downtown building this morning

A fire destroyed a vacant downtown building early this morning.\nSmoke continued to billow hours later from the building's remaining hotspots, leaving much of the area of a light haze.\nThe fire spread through the warehouse at 316 S. Washington St. around 2:30 a.m. Bloomington Police Officer Tiffany Willingham was on duty shortly after that when she noticed the fire. Fire crews were dispatched at 2:56 a.m.\nMinutes later, fire crews were on the scene and found heavy smoke covering the area and flames shooting through the roof of the building.\nCrews poured water on the building from the south side to protect the adjacent building north of the warehouse, both owned by Bloomington resident R. J. Phelps. Firefighters evacuated an elderly woman from her apartment above Modern Cleaners, 112 E. Third St., because of thick smoke.\nAs firefighters began battling the flames, the south wall collapsed, followed by the front of the building and roof, distributing debris along South Washington.\nThe fire kept traffic blocked from the 300 and 400 block of South Washington, the 100 block of East Smith Street and the eastbound lane in the 100 block of East Third Street.\nCrews from another fire station joined the scene, dousing the flames from the roof of the adjacent building, University Publishing Corporation, 310 S. Washington St. \n"We didn't make an interior attack because of the strength of fire," said Fire Captain Rick Petermichel. "We knew it was a vacant building so we didn't want to risk anybody's life."\nWater from the fire hose ran a foot deep away from the building, but firefighters could not completely stop the fire. Petermichel said hotspots continued to burn in the debris underneath the rubber-tarred roof.\nPhelps said he received a phone call around 3:30 a.m. in response to a building alarm.\n"When we got down here, the thing was gone, and I live 10 minutes away from here," he said.\nPhelps purchased the warehouse about a year ago and has been using it for overflow storage of books from University Publishing and for furniture from his rental properties. His red Chevrolet truck -- covered in bricks -- stuck out from what remained of the building.\n"And there she is," he said, pointing to his truck.\nPhelps said he could not estimate the damage, but he said he purchased the building for "a couple hundred thousand dollars."\n"Whatever it is, it's total," he said. "Right now, I'm probably just going to wait and see."\nPhelps said he was not sure what caused the fire, but he speculated that it was electrical.\n"I'm just assuming that the old building has some electrical problems," he said.\nBackhoes dug through wood and brick from the building's rear just after sunrise from the alley.\n"We're hauling it off as we put (the fire) out," Petermichel said.\nCrews piled the debris in a parking lot behind the building as firefighters continued to hose down hotspots.\nRed Cross volunteers provided hot chocolate to fire crews and were working with the displaced resident.\nPetermichel said an investigation into the fire will begin today.