RUTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The Hastings community and restauranteurs around West Michigan are mourning the loss of a beloved business after Yankee Bill’s Wood-Fired Saloon burned Monday.
Support for the owners of the restaurant has poured in from eateries down the street and as far as Caledonia.
Hastings Fire Chief Mark Jordan told News 8 that the initial call for the fire came from an employee inside Yankee Bills just before noon. When crews arrived minutes later, they knew they needed help.
“The initial dispatch came at 11:52 a.m., we were dispatched at 11:53. We arrived on scene at 11:57,” Jordan said. “(There was) heavy smoke when we arrived on scene and we immediately called for additional departments. We had a total of eight different departments. Pretty much every department in the county and also Caledonia and Wayland came in.”
The building’s steel roof and Monday’s breezy weather proved challenging for those responding crews.
“The steel roof construction makes it really difficult to get to everything,” Jordan added. “And there was just a little bit of a breeze that kept it in the attic for quite some time.”