The Eminence Fire Chief determined the fire started with an office refrigerator.
EMINENCE, Ky. — A large fire in the rural town of Eminence, Kentucky in Henry County has left many deeply saddened. The building both Gigi's Salon and Johnson & Co. Flooring went up in flames Monday morning.
According to the Henry County Judge Executive, Scott Bates, the Eminence Fire Chief said there will not be an investigation after determining an office refrigerator started the fire.
"When I pulled up into work this morning, just seeing it firsthand like that it's just so sad," said Payton Sprabary, a cosmetologist at the neighboring business Spruced Salon. "It brought tears to my eyes, and it made me feel almost guilty in a way, that I could come to work in a building and they're not there anymore."
Bates said was around 10 a.m. that Monday when the flames were so large that large plumes of dark smoke could be seen across the city.
"You couldn't even see the ladder truck in the smoke, everything here was just covered in smoke," he added.
The fire was so intense that most of the roof had caved in and fell on to the first floor of the building. That first floor also caved into the basement.
Once the fire was contained, shattered glass, ashes and charred debris is all that's left of Gigi's Salon and Johnson & Co. Flooring.
A member of the group "Eminence Cruisers", Brandon Shrader, said the Johnson family gives so much to the community.
"Everybody that you ask about the Johnsons, they're awesome people and they go all out," Shrader said. "They do a Halloween thing that raises money for a Christmas thing that they do for the kids. They give every kid that walks in that door a gift every year."
The judge executive also said the Johnsons also support sports games and other events in the city through sponsorships with their company. He also said this loss is personal as his niece is the owner of Gigi's Salon.
Bates also said fire departments within the county are run by volunteers and their only ladder truck is stationed in Campbellsburg. Shelby County had to bring in two more ladder trucks to help extinguish the flames.
WHAS11 asked him if this was alarming and a call to invest more into fire safety.
"It's something that you've got to sell it to the public," Bates said. "This is a service that we need and that's the thing with fire and most things like that, you don't need them until you need them, and then you don't care what it cost. And so, yeah, this is one of those times when you start thinking, do we need to try to start moving it that direction?"
As these local business owners wrap their head around recovery efforts, the community is making it known they got them covered through fundraising.
The Eminence McDonald's plan on donating 20% of their total sales on July 8 from 5-8 p.m. to the Johnson and Perry families.
The local group Eminence Cruisers are also collecting donations in their upcoming Eminence Cruise Night event at the CVS parking lot on July 12 from 5 p.m. - 12 a.m. for both businesses.
Neighboring company, Spruced Salon, has extended an invitation for the hairdressers at Gigi's Salon to come use an open chair to continue their work and serve their clients.