Business rises from fire’s ashes
By Jennifer Mitchell
Rocky River
Published August 9, 2006

A fire early Thursday morning destroyed a portion of a Linda Street commercial complex, north of Detroit Road, but no lives were lost.

An accidental Thursday morning fire destroyed a consignment boutique and a new salon in Rocky River. (Photos by Larry Bennet)

The former home of Prasse Lumber went up in flames at about 2 a.m. Remodeled more than a decade ago, it houses Designtech, which escaped unharmed, as well as Closets Consignment Boutique, and the 2-month-old Sean Luis Salon and Spa, locations that didn’t fare as well. The two storefronts will have to be rebuilt, but firefighters were able to keep the damage from spreading throughout the structure, which also houses office space on a second floor.

“We were at it for a while,” Fire Chief Christopher Flynn said. He estimates it took about two hours to douse the blaze, although firefighters were still working to remove a portion of the roof where the fire started at about 9:30 a.m. The effort was a safety precaution to make sure there were no remaining hot spots.

Flynn said the fire appeared to be accidental, possibly starting in the mulch outside the building’s Linda Street entrances.

“The guys did a heck of a job,” Flynn said. “They stopped it from taking the whole building.”

Flynn said firefighters from Lakewood, Fairview Park, Westlake, Bay Village and Avon Lake all came to the city’s aid.

“They all looked like they had taken a beating when they left,” Flynn said. of equipment while battling the blaze. Meanwhile, the nationwide heat wave had yet to break.

The fire chief added that Westlake firefighters were called out to the Crocker Park Cheesecake Factory at about 5 p.m. the day before to put out a mulch fire there.

“That says to me that the mulch was awfully dry,” Flynn said.

Closets Consignment Boutique and Sean Luis Salon and Spa took the brunt of the fire at the Linda Street commercial complex.

Though there is no conclusive evidence as to how the fire started, anything hot could have ignited it, including a discarded cigarette, cigar or match.

The morning of the fire, police woke salon owner Sean Tougher at his Sheffield Lake home.

Arriving on the scene of the accident, he and the salon’s three other stylists looked at the charred remains of their efforts.

“The owner of the building and his staff and myself  — there was such a collaboration of us designing that space,” Tougher said. To see the destruction was to see there sweat and tears go up in smoke.

“It was really cool,” he added.  “I wanted to try to keep it as a gallery space. It was minimal.”

Tougher said the building owner, Charles Simmelink, is already talking about rebuilding the section that housed Closets and the salon to make it “bigger, better and nicer.”

Tougher said he and his staff will temporarily operate out of Ohio Clinic Skincare, 30400 Detroit Road in the Atrium Building in Westlake.

“We are temporarily being housed thanks to the gracious offer of Dr. Michael Wojtanowski,” stylist Jerry Sufka said.

Tougher said he’s looking forward to returning to Linda Street.

“It took me two years to find a space that I thought was cool enough and fun enough to put a salon in,” he said.

He also wanted to add some words of appreciation for the support he and his staff have received.

“I just want to say thank you to the salon community that responded and to the clients for their compassion,” Tougher said. “I want to personally thank Chris and Chari Zito.”

Current clients and prospective ones can still contact Sean Luis salon staff at the same number, (440) 331-5420; clients of Sufka can reach him at (440) 503-1679.

The salon was slated to open yesterday and will schedule clients from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 9 to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

West Life was unable to contact Linda Dalton of Closets.