Blaze destroys Kirkwood shop

At about 10:29 a.m. Saturday, Greetings, a popular gift shop on Kirkwood Avenue, went up in flames after an overheated light fixture ignited flammable materials in the back room.\nEmployees and customers ran from the building as smoke billowed beneath the red awning overhanging the store.\nNo one was injured in the fire although the entire interior of the shop was destroyed.\nWithin minutes, the Bloomington Fire Department arrived with four trucks to fight the flames shooting from the open door. The firemen axed down doors and broke out display windows so they could blast water into the store. More black smoke began to escape, creating a huge cloud that engulfed the entire corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street. The struggle continued for approximately 30 minutes, while alarmed citizens watched from across the street.\nRuss Clancy, who was living in and running a hair salon above Greetings, said he woke up to the realization that his building was on fire and escaped from the roof of a neighboring building. He is thankful to have avoided injury.\n"God always watches over us," he said.\nDana Banister, a senior, was the Greetings employee who called 911. Banister and Lisa Simmons, a junior, were working at the store when the fire started. They said items began falling from shelves as flames worked their way across the ceiling.\n"There were just shards of tissue paper flying across the room," Banister said.\nSimmons said no alarm sounded.\n"We didn't hear anything per se," she said.\nBloomington fire investigator Steve Cottingham said the fire was electrical. He said a light fixture ballast overheated and was the most likely cause of the fire.\n"It started above the ceiling in the back room," he said.\nCottingham said there were no smoke detectors in the building, but also said small businesses are not required to install them.\nThe store's owners, Robert and Rosemary Jacobs, were vacationing in Florida Saturday. Their daughter Sarah Sater and son-in-law Matt Sater are also owners and have run the business for the past five years.\nMatt Sater, who was at the scene of the fire, said all the store's merchandise was destroyed.\nThe family operates another Greetings store at 907 S. College Mall Road, but hopes to re-open on Kirkwood in the future.\n"We definitely intend to be on Kirkwood again," Sater said.