In the hours after a fire destroyed two businesses in downtown Oxford, Mayor Jackie Sergent said city officials were already busy putting together a plan to rally around the displaced business owners.
City firefighters and numerous volunteer departments responded to the blaze Monday morning on the 100 block of Williamsboro Street in downtown Oxford. The call came in at 8:28 a.m. and Sergent said by 9:30 a.m. Downtown Development Director Alyssa Blair was “already starting to look where those two businesses might be rehoused…so they might be up and running as soon as possible,” Sergent said on Tuesday’s TownTalk.
The Healing Haven and Farrar’s Jewelers were destroyed by the fire, which was brought under control before 11 a.m. The investigation is ongoing, Sergent said. No cause has yet been determined.
“We are very pleased and proud that our fire department and all the other first responders were able to handle the fire with minimal damage to adjoining properties and no loss of life or limb,”
She said she is incredibly proud of the way that the city’s fire chief and emergency management team responded, providing “leadership an insight to manage the fire…and avoid a conflagration that would take out an entire city block and limit the damage to the building that was burning.
The last time a fire destroyed a building in downtown Oxford was in February 1997.
A fitness studio occupied a very narrow space beside near where Strong Arm Baking Co. is located along Main Street.
That building was a complete loss, and city commissioners voted to create a pocket park in 2001. “It’s named for former Mayor Hugh Currin,” Sergent said. “It’s a lovely little spot now.”
Sergent said she believes the people of Oxford will rally around the two business owners who have been displaced. “Our downtown is made up of small business owners and we do not want to lose them,” she said.
She encourages the community to “step forward and support them in any way we can think of…we will help them get going…and find a way to sustain (them).”