Alert boys help save the day at Geneva Hardware

Mike Dickson would like to thank two boys who helped his staff and customers escape injury in a fire at Geneva Hardware Tuesday night.

"I'd love to know who they are, because they took the time to say something," Dickson, the owner, said Wednesday afternoon.

The youngsters went in the hardware store at 617 W. State at 7:57 p.m. Tuesday to tell employees there was smoke coming out of the building. The facade was on fire.

"They went outside and looked up and said, 'Yeah, you're right,'" Geneva Fire Chief Steve Olson said.

Their timely warning not only helped the five workers and about a dozen customers escape safely, it saved the store from more serious damage, Dickson said. The fire was confined to the facade, which will have to be replaced. The only inventory damaged was bagged goods outside, such as mulch and cement mix.

The store reopened Wednesday morning, about an hour late. It was business as usual, except for everybody asking about the fire.

Dickson said the fire likely started in electrical work for the store's sign, which was being replaced. The independent store is changing its affiliation from Ace Hardware to Do It Best.

Geneva Hardware has been in business for more than 80 years, first in a building in the 100 block of West State, then in its present location. The first location burned down in early 1953, in a fire that destroyed five buildings.

Seven departments responded to Tuesday's fire.

A damage estimate was not available Wednesday afternoon.