Why fight, Ohio firefighters ask, when buildings better gone?
By Matthew Marx The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch All Rights Reserved Columbus firefighters spent hours letting flames consume an abandoned building at the old Columbus Coated Fabrics complex in the 1200 block of N. Grant Avenue last night. “We don’t want to risk any lives for the property because it isn’t safe,” said Fire Capt. Kevin Reardon, who described the effort as a “controlled burn to some degree,” containing the damage to one graffiti-covered, two-story brick building near the corner of Grant and E. 7th Avenue. It was the second fire in the abandoned plant yesterday. The cause was undetermined, Reardon said. Firefighters estimated that more than 20 fires have occurred there since the plant closed in 2001. The blaze began after 7 p.m. and was expected to burn until early this morning. “That’s not good for our air quality,” said Shaun Gunnell, 19, of 1291 N. 6th St., as he watched from his front porch.
