MONROE, Ohio -- There has been huge progress in the rebuilding and renovation of a senior living complex devastated by a fire.
Lightning struck the north hall of Mount Pleasant in Monroe Aug. 13. The subsequent fire forced 69 residents out. The complex expects to have residents back in the Mount Pleasant Place building by the end of the month.
Stan Kappers, the executive director of Mount Pleasant, said the lightning strike that started the fire was intense.
"The fire happened because there were four lightning bolts that conjoined and hit the building all at the same time," Kappers said. "It created a crater as large as a VW Bug in the roof."
Since then, work has been done to fix the building as soon as possible, Kappers said. An entryway was gutted after the fire because of water from the hoses, and because it was exposed to the elements.
Still, the work might have been done sooner, but restoring electricity took a while.
"Our electrical room, out of all places, was underneath the north building, so there was a lot of water -- as you can imagine -- being poured on the fire, that ended up in our electrical room," Kappers said.
In addition to getting the residents back in at the end of the month, Mount Pleasant plans to put on a ceremony and celebration for all of the first responders, as well as the kitchen staff who first rang the alarm and helped the 69 people out. That event is coming up in November.
