KEWANEE, Illinois — Residents in Kewanee wonder how their city will bounce back after a fire destroyed part of their downtown.
The fire broke out Thursday evening in a pool hall off 2nd Street. The owner of the hall, Mark Vervynck, says he was using a blowtorch on his car in the back when it got out of hand.
Friday afternoon he was seen cleaning up what debris was left on the street.
"This is a lot of people's life line," says Kewanee resident, Felica McVicker, in regard to the downtown area. "Our downtown is scarce as it is, so if the fire took out more than it took out - I don't think people would make it."
Two nearby businesses, a salon and a massage spa, say they have some smoke damage. Pictures show a smoke cloud pillowing in the center of downtown.
"I live that way and I could see the smoke from my backyard and I have trees everywhere," elaborates McVicker.
"How engulfed it was in all the pictures was kind of crazy, all the smoke," recalls Kewanee resident, Dillon Jannie.
The city says businesses are already struggling with COVID-19 restraints.
"We want people to have businesses to go to when things reopen," says Kewanee City Manager, Gary Bradley. "In the grand scheme of things it's one business. It's a pool hall we don't have. As a community we are going to have a much tougher time recovering from this shutdown that we are going through right now with the COVID 19 pandemic."
The fire is still under investigation by the Illinois State Fire Marshal.