I was working the night shift Aug. 23, 2001, and was on my way to a meeting in Enos Park when I heard some police scanner traffic about a fire on South Grand. Something about the tone of the dispatcher’s voice prompted me to head to South Grand to see what was going on.

As I got closer to South Grand, I began to see black smoke in the sky. By the time I parked and walked toward the Van’s IGA, a longtime neighborhood grocery store, large flames were shooting from the windows and firefighters were everywhere.

Photographer Kristen Schmid-Schurter and I stayed at the scene several hours and documented what was happening as firefighters battled the blaze. Store employees and neighbors could not believe what they were seeing.

Van’s IGA destroyed by fire / East side loses neighborhood grocery store
Friday, Aug. 24, 2001

Hundreds of Springfield residents watched in disbelief Thursday evening as a treasured neighborhood grocery store went up in flames.

Van’s IGA at 1230 South Grand Ave. E. was destroyed in the blaze, which began about 6:15 p.m. while eight to 10 employees and customers were inside.

All who were inside made it out of the building unhurt, but one Springfield firefighter was taken to St. John’s Hospital with minor injuries he suffered while battling the fire.

The fire apparently started in the back part of the roughly 20,000-square-foot building, according to Springfield Fire Department spokesman Greg Bestudik. Investigators were at the scene late Thursday, trying to determine the exact cause of the fire.

Anthony Milford, 15, a stock clerk who worked at the store about two months, was in the building when the fire began. He said he had swept to the back of one aisle and was shaking out his dust mop when he saw smoke coming through some vents above the meat counter.

“I dropped the mop and told Jean (Milford’s boss),” he said. “She threw me the keys and said, ‘Lock the front door.’ Then we all just ran out.”

A customer who was in the store when the fire began, who asked that his name not be used, said his aunt had sent him to Van’s shortly after 6 p.m. for soda, Kool Aid and some other items. He said he didn’t notice smoke in the building while he shopped for about 10 minutes.

“I was in there paying for the stuff,” the customer said. “Then a checker told me to get out of the store. I saw a fire. I dropped everything and took off. I even left my $20 bill on the counter.”

The store’s owner, Gary G. Van Hise of Riverton, was not at the scene when the fire began, but he arrived soon after. He watched helplessly from the southeast side of the property as firefighters tried to bring the blaze under control.

Van Hise, who has owned the store for seven years, said he was relieved everybody got out safely.

“It’s just an old building,” he said, declining to speculate on what may have started the fire.

When firefighters first arrived, smoke was billowing out the rear of the building. Battalion Chief Tom Faulkner said the first firefighters to arrive tried to battle the fire from inside the building for about 20 minutes.

“It erupted into a big ball of flames,” he said. Because of the heat and the threat of the roof falling in, firefighters worked from the outside.

Bestudik, who also was fighting the fire, said large ventilation fans on the roof fanned the flames.

“We tried to make entry. It was just way too hot,” he said. “This fire had a way far advanced head start on us.”

Adding to the challenge was a lack of water pressure coming from nearby hydrants. City Water Light and Power workers were able to boost the pressure in the area for firefighters, which Bestudik said helped a lot.

“That’s just the way it is with older mains,” he said. “We can only get so much water out of the pipe.”

The fire burned strong for three hours. It took firefighters about an hour and a half to get the blaze under control.

Large flames shot through the roof, and a series of explosions caused many bystanders to gasp and take several steps back from where they had been standing.

Two aerial trucks were at the scene, as well as six engines and other vehicles. Firefighters poured water into the building through the roof and in through a rear door.

The front of the building was built of brick. Two additions appear to have been built onto the structure, one of which was made of cinderblock and the other of wood. All the windows of the structure were broken out. Several plastic signs on the front of the building were damaged from the heat.

An orange glow inside the structure could be seen through the smoke that billowed out from the roof and exterior doors, windows and vents of the building.

About 30 firefighters were on the scene, and Bestudik said many would stay until this morning to keep an eye on the fire, which gutted the building and destroyed on all its contents.

Two firefighters had minor injuries, Faulkner said. Jay Lovelace, 44, was one of the first on the scene, and he injured his leg while laying a hose line out. He was taken to St. John’s Hospital and was treated and released. He later returned to the scene of the fire and was walking on crutches.

Bill Kruger, 41, pulled a muscle while he was inside the building fighting the fire. He did not immediately seek medical attention, Faulkner said.

Because of the intensity and duration of the fire, a five-person team from the American Red Cross arrived at the scene about 9 p.m. to provide water and snacks for firefighters. The workers also helped evacuate families from three houses in the 1400 block of Loveland Avenue whose houses either abutted or were very close to Van’s.

Clarence Moore, who lives in one of the evacuated houses, said his mother called him from work to tell him the store was on fire and that he should get his belongings out of the house.

The rear of Moore’s house shares a wall with the grocery building. He ran inside to bring out a suitcase full of clothing and a bag of golf clubs. He said he was not sure if the wall his house shares with the store is a firewall.

“My cousin, who’s a firefighter, told me it wasn’t hot,” he said. “There was a lot of smoke inside when I went in. By the third trip in, there really was not that much smoke. The firefighters were concerned about our house catching on fire. They turned their water hoses and concentrated on the back of our house.”

Moore’s grandmother, Blanche Taborn, lives next door and also was evacuated.

Mary Ogle with the Red Cross said Taborn was with her relatives nearby.

“We worked with her to make sure she had her medication with her, and she did,” Ogle said. “We’re working with the other two families that are still there. Right now we’re taking care of their emergency needs – making sure they have shelter, food vouchers for tomorrow and toiletries to get them through the night.”

None of the nearby structures was damaged, firefighters said.

Traffic was blocked much of Thursday night on South Grand from 11th Street to 15th Street. Police also blocked off parts of Brown and Pine streets and Loveland Avenue.

Bystanders said they could not believe the store, which had stood since about 1915 and been operated as Castor’s Supermarket, Kent’s IGA and Mr. B’s IGA, was destroyed.

“I was headed over here to get something to eat for supper,” a woman said. “I said, ‘Oh man! Mr. B’s is on fire!’ I just can’t believe it.”

Blaze guts Springfield grocery / Neighbors lose more than just a food store: ‘They were family’

Some loyal customers of Van’s IGA on South Grand Avenue cried as they watched a fire roll through the grocery store Thursday night.

Some approached store owner Gary Van Hise to offer words of support.

Others simply stared in disbelief as firefighters struggled to bring the blaze under control.

Rebecca Houston and her 9-year-old daughter, Steffany, watched from behind a line of police tape as thick, black smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air.

“I’ve been coming here for 30 years. I’ve lived in this neighborhood since the store was Castor’s,” she said. “Anytime you needed anything, you could go to the IGA.”

Van’s IGA was one of Springfield’s few remaining neighborhood grocery stores. The building was gutted in the fire, and VanHise said he was unsure whether he would rebuild.

The building has a long history in Springfield and changed ownership numerous times.

The store originally opened May 15, 1915, as Castor’s Grocery Store. Owned by William F. Castor, the store was operated by three generations of the Castor family until it was sold in 1972 to Bob Kent. The store became Kent’s IGA.

From 1977 until 1994, the store was owned by Art Bennett, who changed the name to Mr. B’s. Van Hise then bought the business and changed the name to Van’s IGA.

With Van’s IGA gone, many residents of this east-central part of Springfield find themselves without convenient access to a grocery store. Many of Van’s customers do not have vehicles, and others who are older do not like to fight the crowds and traffic at Springfield’s larger grocery stores.

Besides selling affordable produce, meat, penny candy and other merchandise, the store also cashed payroll checks, took utility payments and made grocery deliveries to Springfield residents.

The store employed as many as 20 to 25 people.

Houston said the fire left a void that will be felt throughout the community.

“It’s going to mean a lot of people are going to Shop ‘n Save or Save-A-Lot, which is a great distance from here,” Houston said. “A lot of people will have to get cabs to get to the store. It’s a shame. This is widespread devastation here, especially for this neighborhood.”

Marqueta Stewart lives in the Van’s neighborhood also. Her sister works at the store and was inside working when the fire started. She and the other employees and customers got out of the store uninjured.

Stewart said she was at home and realized something was wrong when she heard fire truck sirens. She looked out her back door, saw the lights and went to see what was wrong.

Stewart said she often stopped in at the store in the morning on her way to work. “I always grab chips or a snack and say hi to everybody. They were like a family.”

Wiping tears from her eyes, Stewart said people kept asking her why she was crying.

“I just can’t believe it’s gone,” she said. “Tomorrow I’ll probably get up and say, ‘I gotta run over to the IGA’ without even thinking.”