Just before 3 p.m. the Leitchfield Fire Department responded to a fire at 627 South Main Street--a building which housed Balancing Act, J.C.'s Cigarette Outlet, Movin Movies & Tanning, and AutoZone.
Witnesses at the scene said the fire apparently began on the north end of the building, inside Balancing Act and spread quickly from there.
J.C.'s employee Billy Stanton said that she saw smoke coming down into the store through a ceiling tile that was “out” over by the store's pull tab machine.
And Marty Morris, who is employed by AutoZone, reported seeing smoke over by the store's oil rack, “but that was all that we saw,” she said.
Employees from both J.C.'s and AutoZone then quickly evacuated the buildings before flames erupted and smoke billowed high into the gray Leitchfield sky.
While AutoZone was spared the brunt of the fire and suffered the least amount of damage (some smoke damage), Balancing Act and J.C.'s were not so lucky, and were apparently hit hard by Thursday's blaze.
The status of J.C.'s was unknown as of press time Friday, however, for Stacy Hinson, owner of Balancing Act, it's a different story.
“I've lost everything I've got,” she told the News-Gazette Friday morning.
Hinson said that nobody was in her gymnastics business at the time of the fire, which was “closed for the week.”
She said, however, that one of her instructors and a couple of the instructor's students were working out in the building on Wednesday (Dec. 28) when they noticed that there was no power.
Hinson said that she went to check things out Thursday and also found her business without any electricity.
“All the breakers were on inside the building,” she said, “and I still didn't have power.”
After another call to WRECC, Hinson was reportedly told to check the main power switch outside.
She said that she later returned to her business to check the outside breaker and discovered that “it was off.”
Hinson said that she turned the main power switch back on, checked everything inside to make sure it was all working, “and everything was fine.”
“I then turned everything off, and left,” she said.
Hinson said that she had been gone “just about five minutes” when her business “went up in flames.”
As a result of the fire, Hinson said that she lost about $17,000 worth of equipment.
“It's just gone...everything I've got,” she said.
At the time of the fire, Balancing Act had around 110 students enrolled in gymnastics, Hinson said.
Assistant Leitchfield Fire Chief Carl “Moon” Smith said Friday morning that he has “no idea” as to what caused the fire and that the investigation is continuing.
Smith reported, however, that it could possibly be electrical, but he said that could not be confirmed until a state inspector has a chance to look at the building.
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