Fire at Corner Grocery causes extensive damage

Marine City Fire Chief shares details and gives thanks

By Barb Pert Templeton

A March 31 fire at the Corner Grocery Store in Marine City caused considerable damage to the building but the shop was unoccupied and no injuries were reported following the 9:30 p.m. blaze.

An April 3 meeting of the Marine City Commission had Marine City Fire Authority Chief Joe Slankster sharing details of the fire with officials during his comments from administrors’ portion of the agenda.

Slankster said crews responded to a fire on Fairbanks and North Parker streets in the city, specifically to a building housing a party store called the Corner Grocery.

“I just want to thank our fire fighters and the community and everybody,” Slankster said. “Out of our 24 fire fighters we had 20 who showed up on the scene, so we had over 40 fire fighters there (all together) from surrounding communities.”

Slankster said it wasn’t a big building but as Marine City Police Chief James Heaslip showed up there were flames coming through one of the windows and the fire department showed up very quickly after that as well.

“It was a quick knockdown but extensive damage,” Slankster said. “The investigation has started already and we’ll keep the city manager up on the investigation.”

He said Monday, April 7 there would be a lot of activity at the scene as the investigation continues with Marine City Police, the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, the state police and the insurance carrier, just to determine the cause of the fire.

“We have no clue at this time what caused it,” Slankster added.

He also stated that he wanted to thank Chief Heaslip for the cross training that he’s been doing as a pump operator.

“It came in to good use that night and was his (Chief Heaslip’s) first fire,” Slankster said. “And it let me not have to be tagged right to the truck, it let me be able to walk around the building and keep an eye on the fire fighters and keep them safe.”

He also thanked new Marine Commissioner Patricia May who was at the scene assisting with the health and safety of the fire fighters as they came out of the building, checking vitals with Tri-Hospital.

“And thanks to the community for coming out offering water and Gatorade and snacks if we needed them,” Slankster said.

“It was a very quick knock down but we were there roughly three or four hours,” he said.

Commissioners offer thanks

Marine City Attorney Robert Davis asked the chief with the multi-jurisdictions involved who would ultimately issue the cause and origin report for the fire.

“This one is going to be through the sheriff’s department and possibly the state police working with Chief Heaslip and Officer Jim Jones at this time just to try to figure out what’s going on with it,” Slankster said.

During commissioner privilege at the recent meeting Commissioner Sean O’Brien thanked all the fire fighters for their work on the fire and securing it.

“That Corner Grocery has long been a staple for the community and it’s where my first job was when I came to this town years ago as a kid,” O’Brien said. “Times like this we really do have to come together so thank you all for doing that, it really is important work.”

Commissioner May said she wanted to echo O’Brien’s comments and said having been at the scene herself the fire department had a very quick response.

“I wasn’t inside the structure, I don’t enjoy heat, but they had some obstacles in there with the ceiling and what not and just seeing how all the departments worked together including the police departments it’s always amazing to see,” May said. “It’s a tough situation, everybody communicated well and as usual Joe’s leadership on scene provided a quick knock down so again, I would say an excellent job.”

Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Hendrick said she also wanted to thank Chief Joe and the fire fighters for their phenomenal job. She said they all feel for the store owner because he put so much into the store and she hopes it all works out.