Massive fire at Family Dollar store in NW Indiana leads to partial demolition: officials
GARY, Ind. – A massive fire tore through a Family Dollar store in northwest Indiana, leading to partial demolition and a large response from neighboring fire departments.
The fire broke out on Thursday night in the 1400 block of Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Gary.
Firefighters arrived and quickly began battling the blaze. Mutual aid was also requested from fire departments in Merrillville, Portage, Griffith, and Lake Ridge.
An explosion inside the building prompted a partial emergency demolition and the building was declared “unsafe” at 9 p.m., according to Gary fire officials.
ARMOR D2, a demolition contractor, began removing unstable exterior walls around midnight after they posed a threat to nearby residences and could have fallen into the street.
By 5 a.m. Friday, all mutual aid departments had left the scene, with Gary firefighters remaining to extinguish lingering hot spots. No injuries were reported.
The Gary Fire Department is working with Homeland Security to investigate the cause of the fire.
