DaytonDailyNews.com

COVINGTON — When Joe Fisher heard on the police scanner about a fire downtown on Tuesday, March 25, it was for a familiar address, the VFW on North High Street.

Within minutes of arriving, Fisher, an Army veteran and past VFW commander, knew he was about to lose a good friend.

"We go down there and sit and talk, us old guys," Fisher, 68, said of the three-story building as he and dozens of others watched firefighters from five departments work on an afternoon fire.

The fire of unknown origin destroyed the building that nearly sat on High Street, also known as Ohio 48. No one apparently was in the building when the fire broke out, and no one was injured.

Bart Weer, assistant Covington fire chief, said state fire marshal's office investigators were being called to help investigate the fire reported around 2:30 p.m.

When volunteer firefighters arrived, fire was coming out of the back of the building. Soon, help was on the way from Bradford, Pleasant Hill, Ludlow Falls and Piqua, which brought a ladder truck.

Weer said rainy weather with winds — around 20 mph about 90 minutes after the fire was spotted — were not helpful to firefighters. Thick black smoke rolled from the building and across the western Miami County village.

Weer and Fisher said they were told an employee had been in the building earlier in the day but was gone when the fire started. Fisher said the part of the building where the first fire was spotted was near the kitchen.

Weer said the VFW was home to cornhole tournaments and a popular gathering place, particularly on weekends.

"There's a lot of people in this town who are members there. You hate to see anything like this happen," he said

He said Tuesday's fire was the largest the department had seen since the bowling alley on U.S. Route 36 burned in 1999.

Should the village look for the VFW to rebuild? "Oh yeah," Fisher said.