115 Hickory Street is NOT Downtown, OWH.

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StreetsOfOmaha
City Council
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115 Hickory Street is NOT Downtown, OWH.

Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

Published Thursday May 15, 2008
Downtown warehouse fire extinguished



Flying sparks from a blowtorch ignited stacks of wooden pallet on Thursday and the ensuing fire scorched the outside of an Omaha warehouse before the flames were doused. Thick black smoke could be seen curling above downtown Omaha.

Omaha Fire Department Batallion Chief Chris Greger said that a call was received at 2:55 p.m., and the fire at Nelson News Inc., 115 Hickory St., was extinguished 20 minutes later. Fire crews were still separating pallets and hosing them down 45 minutes after the fire was out.

Greger said it was fortunate that the flames didn’t reach the combustible combination of paper, wood and cardboard inside the building.

Employees at the business were using a blowtorch to cut up a large piece of machinery for scrap metal when sparks ignited the nearby pallets, said Kim Holtorff of Insurance Planning Associates, LLP, the insurance carrier for Nelson News Inc. The business includes a recycling operation,

Employees told fire investigators that they unsuccessfully tried to put the fire out with fire extinguishers before the fire department arrived to douse the flames. Several hundred pallets burned, and a portion of the paint on the north side of the building was burned off.

Holtorff said the building itself was not damaged, although a smoky haze filled the offices near the front door. Holtorff estimated the damage at $1,000.



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nativeomahan
County Board
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115 Hickory Street is NOT Downtown, OWH.

Post by nativeomahan »

How many people knew their was a 1st and Hickory? I think it is the least known part of Omaha. I was down their last year and frankly this life-long Omahan didn't know it existed before then. It is a fascinating part of town, resembling the Ozarks or Appalachia.
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Omababe
Planning Board
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115 Hickory Street is NOT Downtown, OWH.

Post by Omababe »

nativeomahan wrote:It is a fascinating part of town, resembling the Ozarks or Appalachia.
There are a few very rustic pockets in there, east of 6th., roughly from Bancroft north to, uh Querulous St. :) or so. Yes, very un-typical of what you think of as Omaha.