Fire crews spent hours battling a blaze at the vacant two-story industrial facility at Deeds Avenue and Edmund Street, which neighbors say has sat vacant for 20 or more years and has attracted criminal activities. The property owes thousands of dollars in back taxes.
The factory has been targeted and damaged by metal scrappers, vandals and arsonists, and neighbors said they want the city to tear down the building.
Late Tuesday afternoon, a fire ravaged the abandoned industrial building on the 500 block of Deeds Ave.
The billowing smoke was so thick that some neighbors did not dare venture outside.
Crews cut off utilities to about 600 residents who live in that section of Old North Dayton. Residents said the power was out for hours and they had to light candles.
The factory is owned by K. K. Enterprises LLC, which officially dissolved in 2008. K. K. Enterprises currently owes $148,594 in back taxes on the property.
Ohio Secretary of State records show the company’s general partner was Suha Kakde, who is the CEO and President of manufacturing firm US Aeroteam, located in Dayton.
UPDATE @ 11:15 a.m. (Feb. 17)
Fire investigators are back at the scene today of an industrial fire that broke out Tuesday evening at Deeds Avenue and Edmund Street. The fire department is using a lift to take pictures of the damage and help pinpoint a cause, officials said Wednesday.
NewsCenter 7’s Mike Campbell is working this story today, and will have more from the city of Dayton and their attempts to recoup costs from the building owner.
The city has said it likely won’t be able to recoup costs for potential demolition after the property owner, KK Enterprises, merged with a limited liability company a couple years ago that has since dissolved.
The city has said the property owner also owes back taxes.
UPDATE @ 11:02 p.m. (Feb. 16)
DP&L is reporting no outages in the neighborhood where the industrial building fire occurred.
Power to an estimated 574 customers in the area of the abandoned warehouse at Deeds Avenue and Edmund Street had been cut for the safety of the Dayton fire crews, District Chief Barry Baldwin and DP&L spokesman Kevin Hall said.
A check of Montgomery County auditor’s records lists KK Enterprises as the owner and the company owes thousands in taxes.
UPDATE @ 7:22 p.m. (Feb. 16)
District Chief Barry Baldwin said crews went defensive right away when flames began rolling out from under the roof of the industrial building, which forced crews, sent to the roof to check smoke, to back away from the condemned warehouse.
The fire is listed as suspicious, he said. The building was marked with a red “X” — which means it was condemned.
He said there have been scrappers in the building, as well as some homeless persons, noting that Dayton fire crews have been sent to the address several times going back seven years.
“It looks bad on the news, but there’s a certain way we have to put these fires out to keep everybody safe. And that’s what we’re going to do,” Baldwin said in answer to why crews allowed the flames to burn away the roof so they could then spray water on the inside.
Baldwin said the building should be considered for demolition.
At 7:30 p.m., the DP&L online outage page was showing 145 customers still without power, down from 574 who lost power when the utility shut power to the neighborhood because of the fire.
Baldwin said power had to be cut because of a 7,200-volt line line running down the side of the building and fire crews were using an aerial ladder to spray down the building from the sky.
UPDATE @ 6:13 p.m. (Feb. 16)
The industrial building fire is causing quite a commotion.
Traffic in the neighborhood has been rerouted and fire hoses are all over the streets, and now Dayton police are being asked to clear onlookers off train tracks behind the building.
A crew aboard a CSX freight train asked for the help so the train can get through the area.
Neighborhood residents are complaining because the power is out.
The Dayton Power & Light online outage page is showing an estimated 574 outages and DP&L spokesman Kevin Hall confirmed the outages are connected to the fire.
“We were asked to de-energize the electric facilities around that building. We had to de-energize the entire circuit,” Hall said.
DP&L is re-rerouting circuits to restore service and keep fire crews in the area safe, he said.
UPDATE @ 6:05 p.m. (Feb. 16)
Dayton crews are letting the roof burn off the industrial building fire so they can get water inside the condemned structure.
There are have been at least three or four fires there in the past, a Dayton fire official said.
There is a raccoon stuck on the second floor and crews have put a ladder near the animal to coax it into coming down.
The building is at least two stories and crews have hoses stretched throughout the neighborhood.
UPDATE @ 5:25 p.m. (Feb. 16)
Nicole Stewart said she was at a bus stop, waiting for her daughter, when she saw smoke coming from the top of the industrial building at Deeds Avenue and Edmund Street in Dayton and dialed 9-1-1.
“It’s an abandoned building. I know people go in there to get warm,” she said.
Stewart said she didn’t see anybody go inside the building she said has been abandoned for years.
Dayton fire crews are closing Troy Street and Leo Street to traffic because motorists are driving over fire hoses. Crews have asked for additional Dayton police Neighborhood Assistance Officers to block and re-route traffic at Maryland Avenue as well.
FIRST REPORT
Fire crews are battling an industrial building fire at Deeds Avenue and Edmund Street.
Flames burst through the roof and from the sides as crews were putting up a ladder to check out smoke coming from the roof. Crews were dispatched there about 4:40 p.m. on a report of a possible structure fire.
We’re hearing that crews have declared the roof of the building unsafe. There are no reports of any injuries.
We have a crew on the way. We will update this developing report as we get information.
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