Downtown Ann Arbor fire decimates building, wipes out restaurant and vape shop

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - A decades-old building in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor is a total loss after a fire early Friday morning.

The fire took place on Maynard between Liberty and Williams streets inside a restaurant and the Vape City vape shop. No one was inside the building when it happen or when the fire started–and no one including firefighters were hurt.

"The challenge with this building is that we've got a parking deck on one side, a commercial building on the other side - and on the back we have no access," said Ann Arbor Fire Chief Mike Kennedy. "Crews went in and had significant fire overhead. We had some other crews to the roof and the fire was already venting through the roof.

"At that point we backed everyone out. The fire had a significant jump on us."

Kennedy says it’s unclear exactly where in the building the fire started. One thing, however, is certain: the vape cartridges inside the shop made battling the blaze harder for firefighters.

"The content of the vape shop was incredibly volatile. And there was a really critical fire in Los Angeles two years where several firefighters were critically burned," the chief said."So with that, it was part of our decision not to do interior operations for the vape shop. We backed everyone out and did exterior defensive operations."

The building’s roof collapsed during the fire. DTE Energy crews were on scene to cut gas service to the building.

Crews blocked off Maynard Street as they fought the blaze. firefighters plan to reopen the street to traffic by the end of the night.