William Finch said he was in his car repair shop Wednesday afternoon when the gas tank of a Chevy Tahoe exploded, starting a fire that destroyed Brookside Hardware in Margaretville.
``There was nothing anybody could do,'' Finch said.
A massive fireball turned into an instantly spreading fire, he said, but everyone left the building and no one was hurt.
Finch said that somehow, a spark caused the explosion. However, his brother, a Delaware County fire coordinator, said the investigation into the official cause will continue at the site on state Route 28 this morning.
William Finch said he'll also be at the site.
``I'm going there first thing, as soon as it's daylight, to see what we need to do to move forward,'' he said. ``I want to rebuild it _ I want to keep it going.''
On Wednesday, about 100 firefighters from more than a dozen departments fought the blaze using water from the East Branch of the Delaware River, a fire official said. To prevent electrocution, power was cut off for about two hours in the village to accommodate crews climbing metal ladders on trucks from Margaretville and Stamford, officials said.
Brookside Hardware on state Route 28 was across the street from Margaretville Memorial Hospital.
The building formerly was a creamery, a plumbing supply store and a restaurant, Finch said. Finch said he and others had been in business on the site for about 20 years. Finch had bought out his father, Richard, who has retired, and his brother, Steve, who has another job, and was near closing the purchase of the share owned by Mary Hinkley.
If anyone can get the business going again, William Finch can, said his brother Steve Finch, deputy fire coordinator for Delaware County. He spoke by telephone from the Margaretville Fire Station late Wednesday night.
Steve Finch said he was in his office in Delhi when the 911 call came in at about 4 p.m. about Brookside Hardware being ablaze,
``It doesn't matter what I was thinking,'' said Finch, who reached the scene about 30 minutes later. ``The fire was well-advanced before water hit it.''
The fire started in the garage area, which was made of masonry, Steve Finch said, and the blaze spread to the attached store made of wood.
``I was the only one in the shop at the time,'' William Finch said. ``I knew I had to get out of the building _ quick.''
Finch said he took about 10 steps into his office and dialed 911. Then he screamed for everyone to get out of the building, he said, he went outside. Finch said his eight or nine employees were working in the store or outside when the fire started.
Buffy Knapp, store manager, took him to the hospital because he was exposed to smoke and was extremely upset, Finch said. She stayed with him until his wife, Sherry, arrived. He was treated, and by the time he left the hospital about two hours later, he said, it was dark and there wasn't much of the building left to see.
The business, building and its contents were insured, Finch said, and the insurance company representative was at the site Wednesday afternoon. About 40 cars on the sale lot weren't damaged, he said, and the used-car sales can continue.
``That's my game plan,'' Finch said.
The building also had six or seven apartments, but only one was occupied, he said, and that renter escaped the fire but lost belongings.
Brookside Hardware is a one-stop shopping headquarters on state Route 28, according to its website. The business sold John Deere lawn and grounds-care equipment and Blue Seal, Iam's and other animal feed and supplies. And at 30 to 40 cars sold a month, Finch said, the used-vehicle business was the largest in the area.
Margaretville fire chiefs were still at the scene at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, said a man at the station who requested to be unidentified. Crews and trucks were from the Margaretville, Arkville, Fleischmanns, Halcottsville, Roxbury, Stamford, Arena, Andes, Bovina and Grand Gorge fire departments were at the scene, plus Pine Hill and Big Indian departments from Ulster County, the official said.
The Margaretville Fire Department Auxillary provided food and beverages for crews, the coordinator said, and the weather wasn't a hindrance to fighting the blaze. The Red Cross was helping a man and woman from the apartments after the fire, he said.
``It's just devastating,'' Steve Finch said. ``My brother or not, we have a business needing assistance.''
Hollice Straut, a merchandize clerk at Brookside, he was outside with another employee when they saw the fire in the garage.
``We saw smoke coming out the front of the building,'' Straut said. ``The next thing we knew, it was engulfed in flames _ we couldn't go inside ... thank God that no one did get hurt.''
Watching the building burn was difficult, Straut, of Margaretville, said, and it was a landmark that will be missed.
Willis Sanford, of Halcottsville, agreed.
``It was a good place, a good store,'' he said Wednesday night. ``It will be a shame if they don't pull it together _ a lot of people go there.''
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