Fire devastates local antique shop

  • Joe F. Chandler Sr. scavenges the remains of the antique shop that he had managed for over ten years in search of salvageable items.
    Joe F. Chandler Sr. scavenges the remains of the antique shop that he had managed for over ten years in search of salvageable items.
  • The Cookie Jar antique shop lay nearly unrecognizable on Sunday afternoon following a fire the night before.
    The Cookie Jar antique shop lay nearly unrecognizable on Sunday afternoon following a fire the night before.
  • Joe F. Chandler Sr. peers into a scorched portion of The Cookie Jar on Sunday, May 22.
    Joe F. Chandler Sr. peers into a scorched portion of The Cookie Jar on Sunday, May 22.
  • John Chandler pokes around the wreckage of the fire that engulfed The Cookie Jar off of US Highway 77A on Sunday afternoon.
    John Chandler pokes around the wreckage of the fire that engulfed The Cookie Jar off of US Highway 77A on Sunday afternoon.

    The Yoakum Fire Department responded to a multi-alarm fire near the junction of US Highway 77 A and County Road 324 that engulfed much of an antique store on Saturday, May 21, at approximately 6:30 p.m.

     

    Joe F. Chandler Sr., the owner of The Cookie Jar, explained Sunday afternoon that he was on-site in a backroom when people at a neighboring property alerted him of the fire burning the shop he had owned for over a decade.

     

    “I was in the backroom – back there – when somebody from next door came and told me that the fire started…,” said Chandler. “The whole backside was on fire. The wind was blowing 20 or 30 miles per hour.”

     

    Chandler said that local firefighters tended to the fire for several hours until about midnight. He said he was unaware of any injuries that resulted from the fire.

     

    “(The building) had a metal roof on it and the inside was wood. A bunch of metal walls, double walls that you couldn’t get water to it…,” Chandler said. “Hell, they did the best they could, I guess.”

     

    Chandler, his brother and his wife, and an employee were at the site of the fire on Sunday afternoon, searching through the carnage for any salvageable items.

     

    “Just trying to find the coins we had in certain places – see if anything is left,” Chandler said.

     

    One of the shop’s employees, that asked to remain anonymous, was grateful for the neighbors who spotted the fire in time for everybody to exit the building.

     

    “Luckily, they were having a party. So, they saw the smoke coming. If they hadn’t been there, I don’t think that we would’ve been able to get out…,” the employee said. 

     

    Continue following the story for more details as they are made available on Lavacacountytoday.com.