A massive blaze ravaged an Alloy Place cabinet store on Thursday night.
Thunder Bay Fire Rescue and Thunder Bay Police Service responded to a fire call that came in just after 9 p.m. Smoke billowed out of Rizzo's Cabinets, but firefighters acted quickly to attack the flames as they shot out.
No one was in the building at the time of the fire and no one has been hurt.
Police blocked off portions of Central Avenue from Alloy Place to Carrick Street and told onlookers to keep back because of the smoke.
A few of the onlookers appeared to be owners of the now leveled store. One woman sobbed as the building burned, while a man had to be escorted away when he came too close to the flames.
Fire Chief John Hay said family members were taking the news of the fire hard, still dealing with another life-changing event of a few years ago.
“The owners are quite upset,” he said. “There was a previous tragedy in the family and the former owner passed away. The rest of the family feels quite badly because of the loss of his business and his legacy.”
The family-run store was a staple in the community since Nicola (Nick) Rizzo started the business back in 1971. Rizzo passed away in June 2009 at the age of 60.
He suspected that there wouldn’t be much left of the building but firefighters will continue to try and save as much as possible.
Hay said when the crews arrive there was significant fire showing from the back. Firefighters attempted to go in but they weren’t successful. Ultimately, firefighters had to take a defensive approach, he said.
“The fire was burning quite a while before we got here,” he said. “A defensive attack is where we put water on from the outside and we don’t put our people on the inside. The building is so far gone that it is not a safe thing to do.”
Hay said the fire continued to burn strong and hot, thopugh he didn’t expect the smoke be dangerous -- but added it’s never a good idea for people to breathe it in.
More details on the fire are expected to be released Friday morning.
