FOWLER – Clark Becker stood along South Main Street and gazed at tall piles of rubble where two connected buildings once stood, remnants of a massive fire that erased a piece of Fowler's history over the weekend.
His father once operated a general store at the site, Becker noted quietly.
"I was saying earlier that I was going to put a table out here and put up a sign that says, 'Slightly used bricks, so much a dozen,'" he said. "But no one would listen to me."
Joking aside, Becker and others in the village along M-21, about 9 miles west of St. Johns, were feeling a mix of sadness and gratitude in the wake of Saturday's blaze, which destroyed Becker's Bridal Mother's Studio and the Kandle Shack but left another connected storefront standing.
No one was injured, and financial donations were pouring in to help a family of four who lost their apartment above the bridal store.
"We were very lucky," said Cheryl Hopkins, who helps run Quality Carpet, which was protected by a thick firewall and suffered only smoke damage. "We feel bad for the candle shop and Becker's. It's a part of history right there. I'm just glad everybody got out safe."
The flooring business was open on Monday, although there's still a lot of cleaning and painting to do, Hopkins said
Fire crews battle a structure fire in downtown Fowler on Saturday. (Photo: Judith Feldpausch Pierce/Courtesy)
The fallen structure dated to 1900 and housed various businesses over the years, including hardware, grocery and dry goods stores, village officials said.
"We're pretty heartbroken over the loss of a very historic building," Village President Vern Thelen said. "But we're very thankful it wasn't worse. It was a long day, but we came out of it alright."
The accidental blaze started in the candle shop shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday and sent plumes of black and gray smoke drifting south across M-21.
Firefighters from as far away as Sunfield, Carson City and Ovid responded, shuttling water from many locations.
Thelen said he counted 16 fire departments at the scene on Saturday. Firefighters were there until about midnight and used about 500,000 gallons of water, officials said.
Community members kept fire crews supplied with water, hamburgers, submarine sandwiches, donuts, cookies, chili and other items. A local company towed vehicles parked near the burning structure so they wouldn't be damaged, while another brought fuel for fire vehicles and a third transported water to fight the fire, village officials said.
Firefighters are at work to extinguish a fire in downtown Fowler Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. (Photo: Robert Killips | Lansing State Journal)
Officials believe the fire started when hot oil used in making candles accidentally spilled onto combustible materials, Vern Feldpausch, fire chief with the Dallas Township/Fowler Fire Department, said.
Thanks to favorable winds, Becker's Bridal Studio, located across Main Street from the bridal mother's shop, suffered no damage.
"If the wind had been different, it could all be gone," said co-owner Alyssa Pung, Clark Becker's granddaughter.
The Becker family has operated bridal businesses in Fowler for more than eight decades. It had millions of dollars tied up in the mother's bridal store and the building that housed it, Pung said. Her grandparents bought the building in 1985, and it was completely renovated about two years ago, she said.
"We're pretty heart-broken," she said. "But we're grateful that people got out safely."
What the future holds for the new open space on the west side of Main, just north of M-21 is unclear. Township officials said they'll do what they can to encourage redevelopment.
"We'd like to see something happen to fill that gap," Thelen said. "But knowing how hard it is to get a business to open in a small town, that's going to be an answered prayer."
The tight-knit community rallied to help the family displaced by the fire, donating money and offering places to stay, Thelen and Village Clerk Rhonda Feldpausch said.
By Tuesday afternoon, a GoFundMe campaign had raised nearly $21,000 for Corey and Erika Feldpausch and their two sons.
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