WAGONER, Okla. — Cleanup and insurance work fills the start of 2025 in downtown Wagoner on the corner of South Main Street and Church Street.
"It wasn't on purpose. It was an accident," business owner and former Wagoner mayor Albert Jones told 2 News Jan. 7. "It's just unfortunate that we are in this situation. Nobody wanted this."
Jones runs what's left of Atlas Land Office. His wife, Carol Jones, owns what's left of Fragrant Forest Farms market next store. It only opened in late August as a lifelong dream to provide local families with local and more nutritious products while accepting SNAP and EBT, Carol said.
- Previous coverage >>> 'History that we've lost': Businesses impacted by Wagoner fire
"It is an emotional thing for me because I feel like that our community lost something that was very much needed here," she said.
Eight days after the fire that all but doomed everything inside sections of the 19th-century structure, an investigation is still likely a couple of weeks from finishing. However, according to Wagoner fire chief Kelly Grooms, the cause was not foul play.
"We know that (in) one of the buildings that they were having work done on it. We know there was roof work being done on one building," Chief Grooms said. "But as to what caused the fire at this time, we don't know. We're still talking to some of the firemen that were there and some other people that either were on the roof or had been doing work around the buildings."
The buildings that make up downtown Wagoner are also on the National Registry of Historic Places. Despite the current mess spilled in front of the charred section of the building, the two businesses plan to return at another place in town.
"We're trying to hurry up and get this thing back up and running so we can get back to work and being productive," Albert Jones said.
A GoFundMe is set up to help Carol Jones' staff and grocer vendors while the shop searches for a new home.
"One minute I think, 'Oh, I'm gonna be okay,' and then the next minute I'm having a little bit of a meltdown," she said.
"It means a lot to know that our community is in this with us and rooting for us."
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