A structure fire in downtown Sedalia has burned a two story building on the southwest corner of Main and Ohio.

The fire began sometime after 3 p.m. and Sedalia Fire, Sedalia Police, PCAD and local officials such as Mayor Stephen J. Galliher, Community Development Director John Simmons and SDDI Executive Director Meg Liston were on scene shortly thereafter. The intersection was blocked off to traffic. Firefighters first made entry on the retail business's Main Street entrance, then later on the Ohio side to fight the blaze.

The response time by the Sedalia Fire Department was incredibly fast. According to the station's log, the fire was reported at 3:13 p.m., and the first fire unit arrived on scene at 3:15 p.m. A second and third SFD truck also responded to the scene.

The fire was deemed under control by around 4 p.m. No injuries have been reported at this time. The two fire fire crews were back at the station by 5:37 p.m.

According to Sedalia Fire Chief Mike Ditzfeld, the "Honey Hole" thriftshop business, located at 100 S. Ohio, was closed at the time the fire broke out, and is normally closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Right next door is Juanita's House Antiques.

"We had some fire in the basement, the ground floor and it extended into the second floor," said Chief Ditzfeld. "The most significant damage was to the first floor area that housed the business."

The fire chief added that the State Fire Marshal's office in Jeff City has been called to help determine the cause of origin, "which is kind of a routine thing with a large, commercial building."

Ditzfeld stated that "we're not going to do a whole lot of salvage and overhaul until the state fire marshal's investigator gets here, simply because we may disturb something. So we've asked them to assist us with the 'cause and origin investigation.' We don't have any idea on insurance and we're not real sure on property ownership," he said. A quick, online search revealed that the building is owned by Rhodes Rental.

There were a total of 10 firefighters on the scene, in addition to Chief Ditzfeld and Deputy Fire Chief Greg Harrell, as well as Sedalia Police officers securing the scene and Pettis County Ambulance District paramedics on standby.

"We feel very fortunate that we were able to extinguish the fire before it caused more damage," Chief Ditzfeld stated.

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