"We Will Rebuild"

Joe Hill, one of the owners of the building on Boston Post Road in Madison center that was destroyed by a fire in the early morning hours Thursday, said Thursday afternoon that he plans to rebuild. 

The building, at 734-738 Boston Post Road, was built around 1890 and Hill has owned it since 1987.

The building housed Village Pizza and the Madison Wine Shop, two businesses that are popular both with locals and with out of towners. In addition, Joseph A. Hill, Jr., Joe Hill's son, had his offices upstairs over Village Pizza. Those offices served as headquarters for several small businesses including a rental business, a finance business, and others.

Town officials and residents have said they want to do whatever they can to help these small businesses survive their devastating loss. Joe Hill, the building owner, said he was glad to hear that. "That would be awesome," he said. He added that he wants to do whatever he can do to expedite the process of rebuilding.

"I am willing to rebuild as soon as I can," he said. "My thoughts are with this town. The more businesses we have, the more people come down, the better off we all are." 

Town officials said Thursday afternoon that they are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire. They said that it is likely that the entire building will have to be demolished and there was some discussion about that happening as soon as Thursday afternoon. But around 3 p.m. town officials said the cause of the fire is still under investigation and that the building would not be demolished Thursday afternoon. 

Madison Health Director John Bowers said he was told by the  building inspector that investigators planned to secure the building Thursday afternoon, and continue to work on the investigation Friday. 

"It's an old building and we're trying to determine what exactly caused the fire," Bowers said. 

Joseph Hill, Jr. said he was able to recover the remains of a computer that was in the building, and that he hopes that he may be able to retrieve some of the information on the hard drive relating to his businesses.

People's Bank, next to the building that was destroyed, was not open Thursday. Bank officials said they did not know yet whether it would be open Friday. They said it could depend in part on the demolition schedule. 

Khaki & Black, in a separate building down the street, was not able to open Thursday because it had no power, as a result of the work going on relating to the fire. Owner Joel Stander said he was trying to find out more about when he might be able to reopen. 

Town officials said Thursday afternoon that power to some of the adjacent buildings could be restored sometime after 4 p.m. Thursday. The said they may do the demolition during the evening, perhaps on Monday, so as to cause as little disruption as possible to the surrounding businesses. 

But even the businesses that did have power Thursday said business was slow. Everybody was gawking. Very few people were buying. 

But safety remains a concern. The outside wall next to Village Pizza is bowing out, creating a safety hazard. The second floor on that side of the building collapsed while firefighters were knocking down the fire. Some town officials said that could suggest that the fire was most intense in that area. Others said the fire may have been most intense on that side because that may have been where the fire was vented by firefighters, when they were venting the fire.