A giant heap of rubble that was once a huge five-story brick warehouse caught fire last Friday in the Russell neighborhood. The building has been under demolition for over two years as crews slowly take the thing down brick by brick. Earlier this year, one of the walls of the structure partially collapsed into the street during demolition work. It’s been a sad story overall.
In fact, the demolition has been going on so long that mosquitoes have become an issue and crews attempting to keep the insects at bay started a fire that got a little out of hand—a metaphor for the whole ordeal? Firefighters were able to put the fire out in under twenty minutes and no one was injured.
While I do have to admit I have become desensitized to stories about buildings destroyed in Russell—it happens far too often—the headlines from the local media threw me for a loop. As you can see—and if you’ve been following this demo over the past couple years you know—this thing really can’t be called a warehouse any longer. It’s now a giant heap of rubble.
So I have a hard time understanding how this is a “warehouse … destroyed in fire” or an “unused warehouse … near downtown” or even a “warehouse fire” at all. Any bets on how much longer the demolition is going to take?
