Downtown Fire Cause Undertermined

VINCENNES, IND. (WTHI) - The cause of a massive fire in downtown Vincennes will never be known.

Last weekend Fire Departments from throughout the Wabash Valley converged on the Old Gimbel Building to battle a blaze there.

The fire may be fresh in everyone's memory but officials have decided they need to move forward.

The city has put on a push to put Main Street back into business again.

The Saturday night fire in downtown Vincennes was massive.

Before it was brought under control it had consumed almost a half a block.

The blaze was the thing of nightmares for local fire officials.

"This has always been the nightmare we worry about and it did become a reality the other night," said Vincennes Fire Chief Mike Lankford.

The old Gimbel building had stood at the corner of Second and Main since before the Civil War, and the fire provided plenty of fear for neighbors.

"I was really worried," said Anne Marie Marx at Jewelcraft Jewelers across the Street. "We have an historic old bank building and I guess we were fortunate that the wind was coming the other way."

Normally, a large fire like this would be the subject of a lengthy investigation, but officials called off the search for the cause and called in the heavy equipment to finish off what the the fire had left behind.

Officials say the cause of the fire will remain undetermined.

They say it was more important to bring the building down for the public's safety and to keep the community in operation.

"Now we're worried about getting this city back running again," said Lankford.

"It is good news and I'm very happy they got started on the demolition so fast," added Marx.

The city did lose a piece of history, but as the final bricks fell the focus was obviously on the present and future of downtown.

The city of Vincennes is picking up the initial tab for the demolition work, and hopes to recover the money from the building's owner later.