Three Sisters Boutique in Berlin destroyed by fire

Firefighters had to react quickly to a fire at Three Sisters Boutique at 4840 East Main St. in Berlin on Tuesday, Jan. 25, with the fate of two other businesses in the balance.

The fire at Three Sisters Boutique, owned by Mike Lanham and his daughters, Hillary, Morgan and Brianna, was reported just before 11 a.m., and because of the close proximity to the two adjoining businesses, firefighting personnel had to concentrate hard on keeping the fire limited to the building in which Three Sisters is located as they did on simply putting out the fire.

According to Hillary VanDyke, who manages the Three Sisters Boutique store, a customer reported smoke on the second floor, where the business had a number of quilts.

"A customer came downstairs and reported smoke, and I ran upstairs to check it out," said VanDyke. "I saw flames coming out through the floor on the back side of the shop, but it got so smoky that I knew I had to get back downstairs," said VanDyke. "I ran down and yelled out for somebody to call 9-1-1, and then started trying to take as much product out as possible. A few other people started to help me carry items out, and that was really nice of them, but we only got a tiny fraction of the merchandise out before we had to get out."

East Holmes Fire District was the first to arrive, the building had flames exposed from the south side of the building. Firefighters began to attack the blaze from the north and south side of the building, and climbed onto the roof of Catalpa Trading Co. to the west. Because the building was mere inches from Catalpa Trading Co. and was physically attached to the Lehman Originals Southwest Traders business to the east, the objective of local firefighters was to maintain the fire as thoroughly as possible, while making sure that no damage was done to the buildings next to it.

According to Lanham, there was very little upstairs where the fire was located in the southern portion of the second story. He said that there was a rest room, and the area was basically used as storage, but the only merchandise upstairs was the quilt area located in the front of the store's second floor.

Three Sisters Boutique is known for promoting and selling locally made gift items, such as handcrafted quilts, baskets, toys and furniture, as well as hand-poured soy candles, jams and jellies, and other unique gift items.

This family-owned and operated business strives to give back to the community by supporting only local artisans. Having begun the business in June of 2008, the business opened just days before the country's economy took a nosedive, and Lanham said that they have worked hard to get through these first couple of down years in terms of the economy. Now, as things seem to be turning the corner, tragedy has struck.

"This is an absolutely helpless feeling," said Lanham as he watched the fire. "There is nothing we can do but watch our business burn."

Due to the fire, SR 39 was closed and traffic was rerouted through the north end of town. The fire was pronounced officially contained at 1:26 p.m. Multiple fire departments were on scene. Currently, the only business affected by the fire was Three Sisters Boutique. It remains unknown at this time if any other businesses sustained smoke damage or heat damage to the exterior of the buildings.

Firefighting teams from East Holmes, Fire District #1, Sugarcreek, Prairie Township, Paint Township and Baltic responded to the blaze. A crawl space between the first floor ceiling and the second story floor made it difficult for firefighters to attack the fire.

At this time, the wooden building appears to be a total loss, due to the fire's destruction and the amount of water damage it sustained. The building is believed to be the second oldest existing building in Berlin, having been built around 1880. It once served as the Berlin post office, and later became home to Dutchland Construction and Realty. It is owned by Sue Mullet.

Mullet's son Tony, who eventually took over Dutchland Construction from his parents, Sue and Leroy, said that his memories of being in the building came at a very young age, but they were memories which are now saddened by this chain of events.

"It's sad to stand here and watch, knowing that there isn't anything you can do to prevent it," said Mullet. "We appreciate the job all of the firefighters are doing to keep this under control. If they can save the other two buildings attached to ours, they have done an amazing job."
Raymond Hagood, owner of Catalpa Trading Company, said that he has been in business there for 15 years, and he too expressed his thanks to firefighters who were working to make sure his businesses sustained as little damage as possible.

Asked whether or not the family would pick up the pieces and move forward with their business following the tragedy, VanDyke replied, "It's too soon to even think about it. I think eventually we would like to, but we will need help from God and from others."