Editor’s note: The following information has been released by the Whitewater Fire Department regarding the fire at 137 W. Center Street.

At approximately 2:12 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Whitewater Fire and EMS was dispatched to a report of multiple Center St. buildings on fire, in the City of Whitewater.  Fire crews quickly responded, finding 2 downtown buildings involved, with flames visible from the roof.

First arriving crews were able to extinguish a large body of fire from the ground, prior to gaining roof access with aerial apparatus. Once on the roof, crews found the roof involved, as well as the front wall and minor extension to the 2^nd floor of the structure.

The Incident was escalated to a 3 alarm fire due to the number of buildings involved and the outside temperatures.  Box 12-2 was pulled bringing numerous units from Walworth, Jefferson, Rock and Waukesha counties to the scene.

Damage is estimated to be approximately $175,000 for building and contents.  The cause of the fire is believed to be construction related. Crews were on scene approximately 3 hours.

Whitewater Fire and EMS was assisted by the following agencies:

City of Delavan Fire Dept., Darien Fire Dept., East Troy Fire Dept., Elkhorn Area Fire Dept., Evansville Fire Dept., Fort Atkinson Fire Department, Janesville Fire Department, Jefferson Fire Department, Johnson Creek Fire Department, Kettle Moraine Fire Dept., Lake Country Fire and Rescue, Lake Geneva Fire Dept., Lake Mills Fire Dept., Lakeside Fire-Rescue, Lauderdale-LaGrange Fire Department, Mukwonago Fire Department, Sullivan Fire Dept., Town of Delavan Fire Dept., Walworth Fire Dept., Watertown Fire Dept., Western Lakes Fire District, and Williams Bay Fire Dept.

Earlier stories about the fire are found here: https://whitewaterwise.com/downtown-structure-fire-quickly-contained-building-is-not-a-total-loss-police-say/

and https://whitewaterwise.com/structural-fire-damages-center-street-building-in-whitewater/.