Beckley , West Virginia

A massive fire ripped through downtown Beckley Monday evening and on Tuesday the difficult task of assessing the damage got underway.

Many people were at the sight of the fire Tuesday, taking pictures, and taking in the damage for themselves, in disbelief.

Fire destroyed three buildings including a consignment shop, Trio Consignment, and a copy store, Kopy Xpress. Crews tore down those two buildings Tuesday because they were deemed unsafe. The third building, which formerly housed The Blue 'Roo, will be torn down later.

But as bad as it looks, firefighter say they were lucky.

"We just feel like it was a good stop, just this much getting burned" Captain Mike Peck says. "If it would have traveled on down Neville Street, it could have taken out even more businesses."

After twelve hours of fighting the massive fire, in difficult winds and the cold, fire crews kept it from spreading to the neighboring Federal Building or to an apartment complex in the back. Forty people from that complex are now staying in hotels because of heat, water and smoke damage but the building didn't catch on fire and no one was hurt.

Firefighters are still trying to figure out what sparked the fire. They believe it started in the basement of the center building, which housed the consignment store.

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