Fire destroys apartment building in downtown Welch; residents uninjured

WELCH — Ten people escaped injury after a fire destroyed a historic building in downtown Welch Tuesday.

The fire at the five-story Libby Building on McDowell Street began around 9:45 a.m. At least 10 residents were occupying about half of the 13 apartments in the top three floors of the building when the blaze began, according to Welch Fire Chief Dennie Hale. All police, fire and emergency crews were able to clear the scene at about 5 p.m. Tuesday evening after seven hours of battling flames. However, the fire rekindled at 5:30 p.m. Crews with the Welch Fire Department were able to extinguish the rekindled fire.

Hale said no one was in the two businesses at the base of the building, a bar and a vacant storefront. The fire did not damage the insurance agency adjoining the Libby Building, and firefighters managed to contain the flames to the top three floors of the building by noon. According to Hale, none of the residents nor any firefighters were injured in the blaze.

“We had to call Bluefield’s ladder truck up to punch out the windows for ventilation,” Hale said. “We were trying to get the smoke out, and the fire was contained to the back of the building. The top two floors were fully involved when we got on scene around 10 a.m. We’ve managed to prevent any damage to the surrounding buildings and the parking garage.”

Due to the size of the fire and how much it had spread, Hale said firefighters were forced to use the “surround and drown” technique to contain the flames. Hale said the Welch, Pineville, Keystone, Northfork, Kimball and Bluefield Fire departments had all responded to the scene. The West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office had been called out as well due to the magnitude of the fire.

Assistant State Fire Marshal Scott Rodes said he had been called down to the building as standard procedure.

“We still have no indication of what has caused this fire,” Rodes said. “I can’t begin my investigation until the fire has been completely put out. I can say this fire was initially reported as being a fully involved building, but when units arrived on scene, it was only partially involved. At that point, the extinguishing operations began.”

Rodes said he has tackled investigations on similar fires before.

“Based on the sheer size and scope of the scene, they requested the aid of additional fire departments,” Rodes said. “I get called out to a lot of fires like this. In fact, I was out here three years ago when the Tyson Towers building downtown caught on fire to investigate that.”

While fire officials worked to contain the blaze, residents of the building and onlookers from other businesses in downtown Welch gathered in front of the Marquee Cinemas to watch. At one point, it appeared as though the bricks on the building were smoking themselves due to the intensity of the fire.

“You don’t see something like this in downtown Welch everyday,” one observer said.

Henry Austin, a retired Army and Marine Corps veteran, was walking down McDowell Street around 10 a.m. when he saw the fire. Austin said his instincts took over and he went into the building to help others to safety.

“I was down the street when I saw the fire coming out of the second-floor window,” he said. “I ran in because there were people I knew there. People in the building were asleep, and I just went through the building, knocking on doors and yelling for people to wake up because there was a fire. When I looked down the hallway behind me, I saw the smoke was so thick, just billowing up the hallway. I could see the fire and feel the heat behind me the whole way.”

It wasn’t until after he had helped others escape Austin realized he had just run into a burning building.

Barney Rowe, 66, and his wife Nellie, 62, were among the residents who lost everything in the fire. Rowe said that he, his wife and brother-in-law had only moved into the building three years ago, after another downtown Welch fire at the Tyson Towers left them homeless.

“I was sitting there with my wife watching TV around 10 a.m.,” Barney Rowe said. “We heard people screaming and hollering ‘Get out! The building’s on fire!’ We opened the door and there was just all this thick, black smoke coming up the hallway. We got my brother-in-law and then went down and knocked on the door of our neighbor and got her and her son out. We had to go through a window onto the parking garage to get out of the building.”

Nellie Rowe was still in shock as she watched flames engulf the building.

“My husband and I lived on the top floor where all the flames are,” she said. “We just love everything we have. We’ve lost everything we have.”

When the family got down to street level, Barney Rowe said they could see the full extent of the damage.

“We could see the flames coming out of the windows all around,” he said. “It was just destroyed. We went through this three years ago when Tyson Towers went up and now we’ve got this one. Where we go from here, I just don’t know. I’m just thankful everyone made it out okay.”

McDowell County Ambulance service and emergency service workers from as far away as Raleigh County stopped by on their way to or from work to provide any needed assistance. Crews with the City of Welch’s Streets and Sewer departments were also called down to the scene to monitor water pressure on fire hydrants and to assist fire officials with cleaning up the debris and glass that had fallen onto the roads as a result of the fire.

Officers with the McDowell Sheriff’s Department and Welch Police Department were tasked with blocking off McDowell Street to traffic so emergency personnel could focus on the fire.

As the day wore on, police had to reroute all traffic, including school buses, away from the downtown area due to heavy smoke and the amount of emergency vehicles on scene, according to Highway Safety Officer S.P. “Pat” McKinney with the Welch City Police Department.

“We had to reroute the busses and traffic since we had to shut down the main road for this,” McKinney said. “The fire is contained, but it is still not safe enough for anyone to make entry into the building at this point.”

Community volunteers arrived around noon to provide a lunch of water, hot dogs, and chips to the firefighters and other personnel working the scene. The Salvation Army and Red Cross also came to offer support and take in displaced occupants of the building. McKinney said this was a testament to the giving nature of Welch and its citizens.

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