Fireman extinguishes a fire in an old wooden house
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Back in 1989 a fire broke out on Mackinac Island, 2 workers lost their lives in that blaze.

The fire happened at The LaSalle, a 2 story wood frame structure that was where many of the islands employees lived.

The Islands Fire Chief said that the flames coming from the building were spotted around 3 am by two police officers on patrol.  Flames moved quickly through out the structure and then it spread to four nearby buildings  which contained six to eight stores.   Many of those stores had second floor apartments.

When the fire occurred, back in 1989, preliminary investigations pointed to careless smoking as the cause of the blaze.  Since the majority of buildings on the island are wood structures, authorities started sending workers off the island for safety.

The fire was put out by 9 am, and about a half hour later rain began to fall which helped put out the smoldering rubble.   Fire trucks were shipped in during the early morning hours from St. Ignace and Mackinaw City to help the island's Fire Dept. which only has 2 fire trucks.

2 Island employees lost their lives in the fire, as they were not able to make it out of the employee apartment.

 

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