News

Actions

Business owners react to massive fire in Downtown Franklin Thursday afternoon

Posted at 12:39 PM, May 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-18 12:50:24-04

FRANKLIN, Va. – A close-knit community on Main Street in Franklin, full of customers and locally owned businesses.

“We love what we do,” Mary Morris, who manages Mackans Office Supply and Printing, said. “We love the people that we are surrounded by in our community.”

Thursday afternoon one of their own experienced a tragedy.

Trinkets and Treasures went up in flames.

“There has never been a fire like this,” the owner of Jane’s Buscuits told News 3.

The building was destroyed and demolished.

“It’s, like, hard. I mean, I really don’t know how to describe it. It’s like the loss of a family member,” Morris said.

Morris told us she’s spoken to the owner and feels for their loss.

“It is very difficult to see a family that you have grown up with, been a part of, seen played ball with to watch a building of theirs go down is devastating,” she explained.

News 3 saw a lot of people coming by looking at the devastation. Some people even taking bricks as souvenirs because they said the building is over 100 years old.

“A part of our history has just left us so it was devastating,” Morris detailed.

All that sits out there right now is a pile bricks and charred wood which crews are working to clear away.

Many business owners said this won’t impact them but their goal is to help the owner rebuild.

“We just take care of each other. So this community is going to step up like we always do and we’re gonna take care of each other,” Morris told us.

Fire officials said the cause is undetermined but they didn’t find anything suspicious.