7am News, Sports and Obits
Latest WGIL news
Click to play or
Right click and "Save Target As" to download
Click for Galesburg, Illinois Forecast
Home - Cancellations - Community Events - Contact Us - Mornings - News - Obituaries - Pictures - Programs - Special Events Audio - Sports - Weather
Former Manufacturer Destroyed by Spectacular Fire
A large fire at a manufacturer-turned-apartment building is out, but the building is no more.

Every Galesburg firefighter, along with mutual aid from Knoxville and Abingdon, were called to the former Hawkinson Manufacturing facility at Ferris Place and Cedar Avenue just after 8:30 Tuesday morning. Resident Dave Kimbell was not home at the time, but everything he had inside the third floor apartment he inhabited is now gone.

Kimbell tells WGIL he thought he was out of the woods when a fire call first came in.

"Dispatch called me, I was on my way to play golf-- run some errands first-- and then play some golf," Kimbell said. "They called me and said Willis Steele is on fire. I said I live right next to it and they said you better come down. I came down and my building was on fire."

Kimbell's insurance agent, 2nd ward Alderman Wayne Dennis, says a lot of work was put into the building and the third floor apartment -- and was the type of place you could hold a wedding at.

The remaining two floors are being used as storage.

Meantime, Galesburg Fire Chief Tom Simkins tells WGIL once the fire was pretty much out, firefighters began to knock down any walls left standing with their water streams.
06 13 12 by Newsroom
News management powered by Xpression News

Share

Click here for the WGIL News Archive

Click here for national news

All AP stories are Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.