The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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    Lewisville fire

May 21, 2009

Lewisville hit with another fire

Second fire in past three months hits small town

By Brian Ojanpa

LEWISVILLE — The second fire in the past three months in downtown Lewisville has destroyed three buildings.

Arson is suspected in the Wednesday evening fire that began in an abandoned building and spread to two others — one used for storage, the other for office and warehouse space.

A juvenile male has been arrested in connection with the incident. Watonwan County Sheriff Gary Menssen said witnesses stated that youths were seen in and around the area where the fire started.

The incident comes after an early March fire of unknown origin just across the street that destroyed a cabinetry shop and effectively put an adjoining hair salon out of business.

The cabinetry shop was owned by Lewisville Mayor Denny Jahnz, a volunteer firefighter who was taken to a hospital Wednesday after inhaling a blast of smoke.

He said he was given oxygen and released. Firefighters from nearly a dozen area departments assisted in the blaze.

The beleaguered Jahnz offered some faint humor about the incidents that have beset the 270-resident Watonwan County town:

“As I said to a guy from the Truman Fire Department, ‘We have to quit meeting like this.’”

By Thursday morning what was left of the three buildings had been leveled by heavy equipment.

Jahnz said the abandoned building where the fire started had been slated for demolition at some point.

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