A Sunday morning fire that destroyed a 5,600-square-foot quonset hut at 98 S. Glaspie Street ? the same property Oxford Village has a purchase agreement for ? is being investigated.
It was 7:01 a.m. when Oxford firefighters arrived on the scene to discover the large vacant building ‘heavily involved? in a blaze, according to Fire Chief Jack LeRoy.
Firefighters were finally able to bring the inferno under control at 8:49 a.m.
A nearby resident told firefighters he smelled smoke around 12:30 a.m., which lead LeRoy to speculate the blaze had been ‘burning for hours? before it was reported to dispatch at 6:59 a.m.
The chief said a combination of ‘heavy ground fog? and darkness probably masked the fire until daybreak.
The fire completely destroyed the building, resulting in roughly $200,000 in structural damage and another $150,000 in damage to contents such as a forklift and some machinery.
Some ‘minor damage? to the village Department of Public Works garage, which sits adjacent to the scene on the south side, also occurred as a result of the fire. Apparently, the intense heat warped some of the building’s vinyl siding.
LeRoy said the exact cause of the blaze is currently being investigated by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Fire Investigation Unit.
Although the building was vacant, the chief said it still had electrical power. The gas was shut off.
LeRoy noted there have been reports of homeless individuals observed around the building. Possible evidence of someone using the building as a place to eat and sleep was found among the wreckage, the chief said.
The quonset hut ? originally built in the late 1950s or early 1960s when the property was owned by Smith Silo ? was one of three buildings standing on the 3.42-acre property currently owned by the Clarkston-based Harding Leasing & Equipment Company.
The village has a $700,000 purchase agreement in place with Harding Leasing & Equipment for the property. Expanding Scripter Park’s baseball fields and parking, building a ramp park and protecting the village wellhead area (the municipal wells, treatment plant and water tower are right next door) were some of the reasons that prompted the potential purchase.
Manager Joe Young said the village is still in the process of ‘reviewing environmental reports? on the site.
In light of Sunday’s fire and quonset huts’s destruction, the village will have to find out how this ‘affects the value of the propety,? according to Young.
Village officials had not many any decisions about whether or not they would have utilized the quonset hut, if they purchase the property, the manager said.