UPDATE @10:45 a.m.: Damage from a fire at the Piqua Ice Plant is estimated at $206,000.
The building is considered to be a total loss.
Crews are back on scene today looking for a cause.
Aug. 25 coverage:
UPDATE @ Noon:
The cause of a fire at the Piqua Ice Plant remains under investigation today.
Fire crews continue to put out flare ups, and smoke can still be seen coming from debris at the scene. A Piqua fire investigator is on the scene using a shovel to search for clues. A cause has not been determined.
Aug. 23 coverage:
UPDATE @ 7:35 p.m.: A mother, her son and their dog escaped the fire that destroyed the building that once housed the Piqua Ice & Fish Company, Stacy Wall, city law director and public information officer, said.
The fire is believed to have started up the west side of the building, which was vacant and last housed a drive-thru carryout. Flames spread to the east side of the building, where there was an apartment. The woman and her adult son who escaped along with their dog were not injured, Wall said. A second adult son was not home.
"There is nothing left," she said, including a motor vehicle parked alongside the apartment in the Shawnee neighborhood. It was destroyed. Heat and flames melted shingles and building material from neighboring homes and other structures, she said.
Wall said the one resident said he smelled smoke and thought it could have been electrical in nature, but no cause has been determined, she said. A state fire marshal's investigator has been called. Crews from Vectren and the city's power department were on scene as well to check connections to utilities.
Wall said there is no suspicion the fire is connected to any other recent fire in the city, noting there have been two house fires in the past few months.
As far as history is concerned, Wall said, city officials think the drive-thru last operated in the building about a decade ago.
"There has been no recent activity in that section of the building," she said.
At 7:15 p.m., crews from Piqua, Covington and Fletcher were still dealing with hot spots and some flames, so the neighborhood will remain closed to traffic at least through 10 p.m., Wall said. Also, East Main is closed at the bridge to the west and at the mall to the east until further notice.
UPDATE @ 5:43 p.m.: Fire has destroyed the former Piqua Ice Plant as crews continue on scene.
The plant, which closed in the early 1990s, was known as the popular Piqua Ice and Fish Company, where the chief commodity was fresh seafood that was sold to schools as well as to individuals.
The building, which sits in or near the center of a residential neighborhood, once was a former drive-thru carryout as well.
Fire officials have not offered any comment on a probable cause and there has been no word about any injury.
FIRST TAKE: Fire crews are battling a fire at the Piqua Ice Plant, a large commercial structure at First and East Main streets.
Motorists on I-75 can seen smoke billowing from the fire, which was reported just after 4 p.m.
Streets in the area of the building have been closed to traffic.
There is no report of any injury.
We have a crew on scene. We will update this story as we get details.
