Roy Daugherty, owner of Point Blank Shooting Range in Benton Harbor closed up shop for the night shortly after 6pm this evening, secured the building, and headed off to dinner with his family, only he never made it to the restaurant, after finding out there was thick black smoke pouring from his building less than 40 minutes later.
Daugherty says it was the first time in his life that every single alarm in his popular business went off at the same time. That’s striking considering the fact that the building spans more than 25,000 square feet along Territorial Road at Urbandale and sports nine separate alarm systems.
Nevertheless, Daugherty says his alarm company registered alarms in all nine systems within 35 to 40 minutes following his departure and he called for them to dispatch police and fire units after being told by the alarm company that their indicators showed smoke and possible fire inside the sprawling complex which is less than 11 years old, and situated directly across the road from the entry to the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport in Benton Township.
Fortuitously, his shooting range and gun sales business is barely two blocks from the Benton Township Fire Station attached to the Township Hall, and only a short distance from the City of Benton Harbor’s Fire Station alongside City Hall. Both departments dispatched multiple fire trucks as did St. Joseph Charter Township, and Medic-1 Ambulance had several units standing by due to the thick black smoke emitting from the building.
Daugherty says nobody was in the building which he had locked up at 6pm and double-checked to assure all lights were off and the shooting range was shut down.
The building also houses Daugherty’s long time construction business, a boxing facility, fitness center, and archery range.
Daugherty talked with us even as fire fighters were still moving in and out of his business with fire hoses, heavy breathing apparatus due to the smoky nature of the blaze and smoke was still coming from several entrances. He says the fire appears to have started in a storage area behind the actual firing range, and the heavy black smoke which could even be seen from high points in St. Joseph at the peak of the blaze, likely was caused by rubber materials used in the firing range construction for safety purposes.
He was hopeful that the only damage to the front of the house where the gun and ammo shops and other amenities will be limited to smoke damage and he was already calling ServPro to get teams in to start the clean up process as soon as possible. As we stood on the side of the building away from the firing range and storage facility Daugherty said, “No flames have come out of this side of the building, so that’s a plus.”
He says his building is insured, but due to the nature of the brick, block, and steel construction it did not have a sprinkler system installed. He says the storage unit largely held extra equipment and a lift truck, which he says was okay. At one point he noted, “The offices are good…the garages are good…I just don’t know what the smoke is doing, and hopefully it is just smoke.” As one fire team emerged from the front with a hose in hand he called that “a good sign.”
Any concerns about fire reaching the ammunition he says were unwarranted because “we built it like Fort Knox, and all ammo is up front in a separate storage area with cinder block walls, and you’d have a tough time getting in because he designed it to keep thieves out.” He notes, too, that he purposely designed the building to allow fire trucks to attack a blaze from any side of the building.
Daugherty applauded the rapid response of all the police and fire units, saying, “They always do a great job and respond very rapidly to any call we make involving attempted break-ins and the like.”
Daugherty says it was weird to find every alarm system in the house firing at once, but, “We’re in construction. We’ve handled a lot worse in life, and we’ll be back open as soon as we can. We will definitely be closed Monday, however…”
The fire remains under investigation, and we’ll keep you posted regarding the re-opening of Point Blank Shooting Range and his ancillary business services. Stay tuned.
