Blaze tears through Kelleys Island businesses

A fire destroyed two Kelleys Island businesses on Wednesday afternoon.The fire started on the north side of a Division Street building and burned most of it to the ground, leaving only the frame and foundation in place. It also scorched nearby trees and melted the vinyl siding on the Island House Restaurant next door.Vi Feyedelem was in her shop, Vi's Island Treasures, talking with a customer at the jewelry counter at about 2:30 p.m. "It was real hazy out on my porch," she said. "I came out on the porch and looked in the back, and I saw smoke and fire coming out." Feyedelem ran next door to Papa T's ice cream shop to tell the owners, Tony and Carm Vacca, to get out of the building."Luckily we didn't have any customers at that time," Tony Vacca said. "We just kind of skedaddled and called 911."Onlookers said the fire spread quickly.Rob Sweet was waiting tables on the patio of the Island House Restaurant. He went outside to check on a table and smelled smoke."It was just a light smell," he said. "I talked to this table right here and then turned around, and there was a whole cloud of smoke."The smoke billowed from a vent in the attic above the space where The Country Store used to operate. Within 10 minutes, Sweet said, flames engulfed the roof. The smoke was dark brown and "smelled toxic," he said.The whole north side of the building was on fire by the time the Kelleys Island Fire Department arrived, Feyedelem said. Fire Chief Jack Hostal said lack of manpower provided a challenge for the volunteer fire department. They had about seven people working on the fire before mutual aid arrived from Sandusky, Huron and Marblehead.They contained the fire after about 40 minutes, he said.Even as the fire moved toward Papa T's and Vi's on the south end of the building, smoke and flames billowed toward the north and the Island House Restaurant.Trees caught on fire, including the a tall, dead trunk several yards away from the building.Firefighters hosed down the Island House to keep it from catching. Ash littered the patio, and holes in the umbrellas showed where embers landed on the fabric.Hostal said a state fire marshal will investigate to determine how and where the fire started.Sweet said some men were working in the attic space of the garage near the north end of the building. He heard that one of their lights threw off sparks that ignited insulation.The restaurant shut down for the day, and the five guests staying at the inn found other accommodations.The Country Store and Papa T's burned to the ground, but it appeared that only the roof over Vi's burned. Nonetheless, her store suffered serious damage."It's a total loss," Feyedelem said. "The ceiling is caved in. If it's not melted, it's covered in soot, and there's water everywhere."If any silver lining accompanied the days events, it's that the fire came near the close of summer."I would have lost an entire season otherwise," she said.