Illinois Blaze Destroys Two Buildings
When he arrived, his heart was pounding. Fortunately for Hudlin, his building sustained minimal damage. But two other buildings were destroyed in the 3:30 p.m. fire.
There were no injuries to residents or firefighters, although a couple of firefighters were standing at the doorway of one of the buildings when a series of explosions rang out, Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Grimmet said.
Hudlin's building at 722 St. Louis Ave. was the former headquarters for Mayor Carl E. Officer when he was campaigning for the mayor's job.
Officer, who came to the fire scene to observe the damage, said he suspects foul play because he had earlier been in court to turn over some signatures he and his supporters gathered to change the city's government from a city manager form to a mayoral form of government.
"I was supposed to meet with my people at this building at 6 p.m.," he said.
When Grimmet and the fire crew arrived, fire was coming out of two vacant buildings next to Hudlin's.
"When we heard the first explosions, I told my men to get back," Grimmet said. "We sent for the ladder truck to attack the fire from a distance. Since the other buildings were already exposed, we tried to stop the fire from destroying Hudlin's building."
Grimmet said the Illinois state fire marshal's office was going to be called in to investigate to see whether a cause and origin of the fire could be determined.
Gasoline, tires, oil, and other chemicals that were left inside of one of the vacant structures was the source for the explosions, Grimmet said.
Thick black smoke billowed steadily from the two vacant structures that once belonged to the Behrman family. One was an auto body shop and one was used for auto sales, Hudlin said.
Darron Perkins, director of the Veterans Advocates Center, had been using Hudlin's building for the Veterans Advocates Center, which was hosting a nonprofit food pantry and clothing give-aways.
"We have a lot of meat, almost 15 cases of ham in there, that we wanted to give out. We feed 75-80 people every Friday," Perkins said.
Hudlin, wiping sweat from his forehead and smiling, said: "I was blessed with a 16-inch firewall on the side of the building that burned. I lost a good portion of the new roof that I put on the building a year and a half ago, and a steel door was damaged."
A bank foreclosed on the Behrman property a couple of years ago and Hudlin was trying to buy it to build a concert hall, a restaurant, bar and grill.
"I was in the process of putting together a business plan. I was just waiting for the economy to turn around before I invested money in it," Hudlin said. Hudlin also owns Hudlin Insurance Co. and Mickey's Lounge on Missouri Avenue.
Kelvin Ellis, director of regulatory affairs for the city, was at the fire Tuesday. He said the building was on his list of the 10 worst violators.
"It's one of 10 on our list that most needs code enforcement. I urged the city to take legal action against the owner to force compliance with the international property maintenance code," he said.
Ellis said Ted Behrman was cited numerous times for code violations.
"He refused to move any of his belongings out of the buildings. We talked to the bank who held papers on the building, but no action was taken other than a partial board-up that they did," Ellis said.