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Crime & Safety

Greenfield Village Fire Damages Cider Mill Roof

Firefighters say the fire may have started when high winds combined with something that was kicked up by a passing train and landed on the building roof.

A fire at on Sunday damaged the village's Cider Mill, but the village had just closed and no one was injured. 

The fire was called in at 5:30 p.m., just after the village closed. According to media relations manager Carrie Nolan, no visitors were in the area.

Dearborn Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Prokop said firefighters believe, after a preliminary investigation, that the fire may have begun when a steam-engine train passed by the mill. Greenfield Village's trains are fueled by coal.

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"The way we’re looking at it ... one of the locomotives kicked something out, and because of the high winds, it dropped on the roof," Prokop said.

Stations 1 and 2 responded to the call, and firefighters were able to put the fire out before it spread. Only the roof of the mill appeared to have been damaged.

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This is the second fire in just over two years at the village, Nolan said. The other took place in January 2009 at the Sarah Jordon Boarding House, causing smoke and water damage.

"We completely restored it, and it was open in 2010," Nolan said of the Sarah Jordan house.

Visitors are not permitted to go inside of the Cider Mill, which is part of the Liberty Craftworks area of the village. The fire is not expected to affect visitor experiences while the building is examined and restored.

A full investigation by the Dearborn Fire Department is ongoing.

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