Fire in Riverside

[Shwaz]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/23195389/detail.html

Fire Damages Rear Of Riverside Home
Smoke Seen For Miles Monday Morning
POSTED: Monday, April 19, 2010
UPDATED: 3:06 pm EDT April 19, 2010


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville firefighters contained a house fire in the 2200 block of Oak Street Monday morning.
Firefighters said heavy flames started coming from the rear of the Riverside home.
Smoke could be seen for miles.
No one was hurt. It's unclear how the fire started.

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/09sPtbXC650&hl=en_US&fs=1&

[riverside_mail]

That house has been vacant for as long as I can remember. Most likely someone was in there that shouldn't have been.

[floridaforester]

Maybe there is a silver lining in this.  I always thought that the old Deluxe cleaners building would make a great restaurant, but no parking.   A little bit o'flame and Voila!  I walk by here all the time and have never seen anyone coming or going from this property.  It is also directly connected to the brick commercial building to the east, so thank goodness JFR got there as quickly as they did. 

[buckethead]

Just got flagged by the FBI^^^.

I want that house. I could rehab that little girl and move my family from PVB back to riverside.

[AmyLynne]

Maybe there is a silver lining in this.  I always thought that the old Deluxe cleaners building would make a great restaurant, but no parking.   A little bit o'flame and Voila!  I walk by here all the time and have never seen anyone coming or going from this property.  It is also directly connected to the brick commercial building to the east, so thank goodness JFR got there as quickly as they did. 

Would it be safe to eat there with all those years of dry cleaning chemical build-up?

[aubureck]

I hope someone steps up and at least seriously attempts a rehab before the bulldozers get it.  From the video looks like the entire back half of the structure is seriously damaged/gone.

This is a tragedy.  Such a beautiful house.

[Dog Walker]

That house is way too far gone to be rehabbed.  The front is still standing, but the entire back and center are gutted.

The owner has wanted to tear down all of those buildings for some time.  Before the collapse of construction finance he had plans to build a condominium or apartments on the site.  I think he was denied permission to tear down the Deluxe Laundry buildings by the City since they are "contributing" buildings in the Riverside/Avondale Historic District.

[grimss]

There hasn't been any electricity to the building for five years, so I'm curious to learn how this fire started . . .

[DetroitInJAX]

I went to pick up my dry cleaning that day at the Deluxe across the street and the lady that runs the place said that the owner was putting up burglar bars on some of the windows.  Apparently a spark from a construction implement caused the fire? 

Mind you this is all hearsay...