Fire tore through a beloved Everett business Friday, gutting the Judd and Black Appliance store. The smoke and flames from the two-alarm fire could be seen for miles.
By Saturday, the flames had turned into smoldering ash. Some of the building’s façade remained standing but behind it, there was little support and city inspectors worried it could collapse.
Crews fenced off and closed some lanes of traffic and streets around Maple, Hewitt, and California where the store sits. City workers said it could take weeks to bring in heavy equipment, tear down the building and fully re-open all lanes of traffic.
For members of the community with memories of the store, it was difficult to see how much was destroyed.
“Everybody's been there and they know the history and it's been a part of this building for years and it's very sad,” Martie Martinez said. “We've shopped here many times, so it was heart-wrenching knowing it was family-owned and they've been in the area for so long and just really very sad."
Firefighters initially came here for a dumpster fire, but now say the dumpsters were not involved. They gathered evidence looking for a cause.
Regulars say there was something special that kept them coming back here.
“At my age, you hang on to these old buildings because of the history of the city and all the stories it offers,” Martinez said. “Of course, they can rebuild but you're losing the history more than anything."
No one was hurt in the fire and the cause remains under investigation.
The Everett Fire Department said the building had no sprinklers since it was built before current fire code. Follow Everett Fire for developments.
