ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. -
For hours, a number of fire departments worked to get a fire in one of St. Johnsbury's older buildings under control Sunday.
A day later Paul Taylor came back to see how bad it was.
"It's just wet. It's got a lot of water damage in there," said Taylor.
Taylor owns the Artistic Gardens store on the first floor.
It's a location he moved his business to two years ago and had loved it ever since.
"It worked out real well for us because we didn't get walk-in traffic before, now we get a lot of walk in traffic," said Taylor.
That all changed Sunday after his business as well as another and six apartments caught fire.
St. Johnsbury Fire Chief Troy Ruggles says a number of wires overheated on the first floor.
"Fire got into the walls, traveled up into the walls and the ceiling and traveled throughout the building," said Ruggles.
Everyone got fine, but Ruggles says it was a close call for a couple of his firefighters.
"They had to bail out a window on the third floor and two of them actually landed about 12 feet on a stairwell," said Ruggles.
Although the building received some significant damage, Chief Ruggles says he isn't sure if it has to be torn down because he says the structure of it might be alright.
The scary sight brought many people out Monday to take photos of the old building.
As for Taylor, he's hoping to find another spot nearby, although he's happy to report his flowers made it out ok, just in time for Christmas.
"They're out delivering [Monday]," said Taylor.
Half of the apartments destroyed were occupied.
Some of them are staying at a nearby hotel.
For more information on how to donate to the fire victims, click here.
