Minimal damage from fire at Edwardsburg shopping plaza

April 03--EDWARDSBURG -- Last night, area fire departments spent about an hour putting out a fire at the Gateway Shopping Plaza off of M-62 in Edwardsburg.

The fire began at around 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Authorities believe that the fire originated in a shed behind the shopping center and spread to the back of the building, where there is some damage to a wall and a small portion of the roof. Nobody was hurt, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"The shed is a total loss," said Bruce Stack, Edwardsburg Fire Department Chief. "Part of it's totally burned down."

The only business in the plaza that was impacted is Scrapper's Rescue, a not for profit based in Elkhart that is in the process of opening its second location in Edwardsburg. The room impacted by the fire was empty and will primarily be used to store donated items.

"There's a little damage to one of the rooms inside the building," said Melissa Spry, a volunteer at Scrapper's Rescue. "But it didn't affect the actual store itself."

Scrapper's Rescue is a charity organization and thrift shop.

"What we are is we are a not for profit retail shop," Spry said. "All proceeds go to disabled veterans, service dogs and service dogs training. One hundred percent of our stock comes from the community, which means it goes back into the community."

The retail shop is still in the process of putting up shelves and transferring donations from its Elkhart location. The organization was planning to open its Edwardsburg location on April 21.

"It just happened last night, so we don't know if it will delay things or not," she said.

Departments on the scene were Clay Fire, Cleveland Fire, Central Cass Fire, Niles City Fire and Edwardsburg Fire.

"We got to [the fire] before it really got going."

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