SEATTLE — In Seattle, people living in the Ballard neighborhood came together on Friday to rally around a corner market that recently suffered major damage from a natural gas explosion.
At Take 5 Urban Market, the beloved business received the bad news early Thursday morning. The Seattle Fire Department said an accidental natural gas explosion caused flames to tear through the building.
"I am driving down here like, 'I don't want to see this. I don't want to deal with this. What are we going to do?' It was almost a panic attack reaction,” Bryan Vietmeier recalled.
"It was horrible. I thought oh my god it is gone,” said Rebecca Rouleau.
Vietmeier and Rouleau are husband and wife. They are the owners of the business that’s been in Ballard for 17 years.
"I've been involved since day one, she's been involved for over 10 years," said Vietmeier.
A day after the fire did damage, they still went to work.
They showed up and so did the community. One customer after another stopped by to show their support. On boarded up windows, neighbors have been writing encouraging messages.
"I can't tell them how much that meant to me to see that here,” said Rouleau.
Even students at a nearby Whittier Elementary School sent notes that their principal delivered Friday afternoon. Rouleau said the community response has been "absolutely amazing."
“We are really grateful for them. This is why we love what we do, and we love being here and we plan to come back,” said Vietmeier.
The owners want to stay in the same location. They are working on plans to rebuild and an online fundraiser has been started to help.