Fire Rips Through the Turtle Creek Flea Market in Monroe, Ohio

I have a lot of experience with the Turtle Creek Flea Market in Monroe, Ohio. My parents took me there as a child, I've set up there a few times myself, and my parents have their own indoor booth at the flea market. At around 3:15 p.m. Thursday my father called with the news that the flea market was on fire, something he heard on the radio. Less than 30 minutes later my sister-in-law called from San Diego where she saw the news on CNN. Here in Dayton, Ohio though we heard nothing.

The phone continued to ring off the hook as other vendors who knew my parents called to see if they knew anything. After the third or fourth call we finally decided to bite the bullet and check out the damage for ourselves.

We arrived to find at least six or seven police cars in the parking lot, blocking off traffic and preventing anyone from getting close to the building. Turtle Creek had already called in a restoration service that was sitting in the parking lot, waiting to get inside. There were also several fire trucks and firefighters still there.

After driving down the street several times we parked in a nearby parking lot where we could walk over to the flea market and see the fire damage for ourselves. The inside booths at the Turtle Creek flea market are set inside six aisles with one main aisle connecting them all. The outside of the main aisle was covered in thick black soot and it was pretty clear that the fire had done quite a bit of damage.

Luckily enough for my parents, their booth was on the opposite side of the flea market, but we still think they probably had some major smoke damage. As of 5 pm today though the flea market was letting any of the vendors inside.

Outside though we had the chance to talk to a few other vendors. Everyone seemed pretty shocked about the turn of events and wondered exactly what the flea market planned to do. According to one employee, the outside shops will still be open this weekend, but the inside will be closed.

The fire did enough damage in one small area that it caused the electricity to shut down. Right now they have no electric, no air conditioning, and probably no water. Someone reported seeing smoke coming from the building at around 3 pm and it took firefighters from four separate stations to put out the blaze.

One of the saddest parts about the whole story are the unknown animals that died inside. One vendor owned a large pet shop with rabbits, lizards, and fish. The animals were left inside every weekend and the official report says that all those animals died in the fire.

Of course I have to be thankful that no one died in the fire at Turtle Creek. There were people working inside the building today when the fire started, but they all made it out unharmed.

According to WCPO, a local news channel, officials believe the fire was electrical in nature. Standing outside the building today was a sobering experience. Turtle Creek is a place where I've spent a good amount of time over the years both as a shopper and a dealer. Seeing the vendors come out of the woodwork to examine the damage for themselves and to share stories is something that you wouldn't expect.

All we can do is be grateful that no one was seriously injured and hope that Turtle Creek recovers from the fire soon and opens the flea market doors back up.

Sources:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ee6a0d4c-fa24-4b84-a835-f574af913428&rss=703