Published: February 25, 2009 08:55 am      

Betty's Flower Shop looks to March reopening

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Everett Shekelton, owner of Betty’s Flower Shop says he expects the business to reopen in a rebuilt building by the end of March.

The flower shop is currently operating out of a building on Beatty Avenue, behind the former location where the building is under reconstruction.

It stood on the same site for about three decades.

The Kentucky State Fire Marshal’s office issued an inconclusive report on the fire at Betty’s Flowers in the early morning hours of Nov. 8.

The report said the fire “most likely” originated in the second floor of the structure.

Deputy Fire Marshal Alan Walters, who investigated the fire, said in the report that because of heavy damage to the second floor, he was unable to get to that area of the building. He said access to the area “may have helped determine the exact cause and origin” of the fire.

The fire was reported at 3:39 a.m. by a passerby.

The report said Corbin firefighters entered he building and found a small fire in the greenhouse.

The report said the firefighters thought the fire was caused when vinyl siding fell through the plastic greenhouse roof.

The fire first burned through the upper portion of the building on the west side of the main portion of the building beside the greenhouse.

The firefighters reported that when they first entered the building there was no sign of fire and very little smoke in the first floor.

They reported having heard objects falling on the second floor and were forced to leave the building when the ceiling of the first floor began to fall.

The inside and outside of the building were heavily damaged in the fire and most of the items inside the building were heavily burned.

The fire took about an hour to get under control by Corbin firefighters, and the department remained on the scene until about 11 a.m. to make sure hot spots were out.