Fire strikes Party Shop during severe storm

TECUMSEH — A power line blown down by storm winds Friday evening is suspected of starting a fire that caused significant damage to a Tecumseh store.

The Party Shop, 110 S. Maumee St., caught fire at about 6 p.m. Friday, July 3, as a severe thunderstorm rolled through the Tecumseh area. The storm caused widespread damage to trees and knocked out power to more than 125,000

Consumers Energy customers in southern Lower Michigan, according to Consumers’ online outage map. There were about 3,500 Consumers customers without power in the Tecumseh area and another 810 in the Britton area as of 11 p.m.

"Consumers Energy has mobilized 300 crews that will be working tonight and tomorrow to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. Our lineworkers will be available to work up to 16-hour shifts, allowing our response to continue constantly around the clock," Norm Kapala, one of Consumers Energy's officers in charge for restoration, said in a news release.

"We appreciate our customers' patience and, like them, we look forward to getting the lights back on as we celebrate our nation's birthday."

Midwest Energy & Communications reported 16 of its customers in the Tecumseh area were without power as of 11 p.m. Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Lenawee County at 5:24 p.m.

The storm already had area fire departments busy responding to reports of trees and wires down. Tecumseh Fire Chief Scot Long said he was on one of those calls when the fire at The Party Shop was dispatched at 6:06 p.m.

When the first crew arrived, they pulled a hose and started attacking the fire inside the store, Long said. When he arrived, smoke was rolling out of the front door and windows.

“When I pulled up, I already knew they were in trouble. I pulled them out right away,” Long said Friday evening as crews continued to seek out hot spots. “There was smoke pushing lower level all the way to the street.”

Eventually, the fire broke through the store’s roof, sending a plume of dark smoke into the sky. Firefighters used one of Tecumseh’s ladder trucks to spray water onto the burning building from above.

It is suspected that a power line was blown onto the store during the storm and started the fire along the north side of the store, Long said. Someone alerted the store employees to the fire, and everyone was able to evacuate safely.

The heat from the fire was so intense that it melted the vinyl siding on the Insight Counseling office next door. Firefighters checked that building to make sure it hadn’t caught on fire, too. 

Ordinarily, the Raisin Township and Clinton fire departments would have been automatically dispatched to assist Tecumseh, but they were busy with their own calls to respond to storm damage, Long said.

“It was the perfect popup storm, and everybody around us was busy,” Long said. “…They couldn’t get out of their own communities because of the volume of runs.”

Eventually, crews from Raisin Township, Clinton and Sand Lake arrived to help.

Long said it wouldn’t have mattered if they had arrived more quickly.

“I thought they did a spectacular job of getting set up and doing what they did,” Long said. “We needed more people for overhaul, but as far as initial operations, we did a great job. I don’t think it would have changed the outcome of the fire at all.”

Having fewer personnel on the scene than desired meant the firefighters who were there had to work harder, which was a challenge in the heat. No firefighters sustained any injuries or illness from battling the fire as they worked to keep themselves hydrated, Long said. A Lenawee Community Ambulance crew was on site and handed out water from the coolers the fire department keeps stocked on the trucks during hot weather.

A challenge with this fire is the store was well stocked with merchandise which provided more fuel to the fire, Long said.

The day had already been busy with nine calls, including a grass fire on Nokomis Street between Wing and Curtis courts, Long said.

Another system of thunderstorms was moving through southwestern Michigan shortly after midnight. The National Weather Service expected the system to reach Lenawee County between 3 and 5 a.m. Saturday, July 4.