Document text
Fire wounds more than building Possible arson closes salon, snarls hearing aid business By JULIE SWENSEN Jan Weitman said she'll never forget the feeling when she walked through her Medford beauty salon in the aftermath of last month's fire. "I was so shocked. Fire is so unforgiving," Weitman said. She'd moved her CJ's Style Salon into a former dental clinic two years ago in June, remodeling it and creating a warm salon with carpet, vinyl, decorations. What once was "the prettiest and nicest salon we've had" in her more than 20 years in the beauty business was damaged by smoke, water and soot. Pictures and other mementos were lost. "This was my room where I styled hair," she said Thursday, gesturing to a gutted mess with 2-by-4s for walls and a ripped-off roof open to the sunlit sky. And it looks like the fire was no accident. Fifteen firefighters responded to the building housing Weitman's salon and other shops at 24 Crater Lake Ave. at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 27. Medford police Lt. Tim George said police believe the cause of the fire is arson -- and one of 13 in a string of fires set in the area in the past six months. The fires are similar in that they were set in Dumpsters or trash piles next to buildings in the evening hours. The Crater Lake Avenue fire, which started outside the building and caused $20,000-$25,000 damage, affected other businesses, including the next-door Hearing Aid Counselors Inc. and 5P Marketing. CJ's three hairdressers and a manicurist with a thriving clientele are now out of a place to work, and customers call Weitman, wondering who will do their hair. The fire also inconvenienced customers and employees of Hearing Aid Counselors Inc., where the shop's walls and floors have to be redone and rafters and the ceiling have to be replaced. Manager Richard Rogers said the shop lost a week's business while moving to its temporary location at 101 S. Front St., and customers' appointments had to be rescheduled. "It affects a lot of people," he said. Rogers said he wouldn't be surprised if the blaze was an arson. Five or six years ago, he said, someone tried to stuff kerosene-soaked rags in the mail slots of the office doors in the complex, and the mail slots had to be sealed shut. But despite the string of fires in the area, Rogers said he doesn't worry about going back to the old office once it's renovated and ready for business again in one to three months. "Arson can happen at any location," he said. Weitman's shop is targeted to reopen May 1. "To think that someone could do something like this and not even give a care about the lives it affects ... Was it kids having fun, or someone who gets pleasure from someone else's pain?" she asked. "It just kind of makes you sick," she said. Police are looking for any suspect information regarding the fires. Tipsters can call Medford police detective Steve Edson at 774-2233. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA