(WEAU) - The fire chief says a man who lived in the apartments was taken to Regions Hospital with burnt hands. Meanwhile another woman almost jumped from the window of her apartment.

Although the fire is still being investigated, one couple has to deal with the heartbreak of losing their home away from home.

"I was sleeping on the couch and Morgan came downstairs and said the shop was on fire," said Zech Galindo, owner of Touch of Class Ink.

Zech and Morgan have owned Touch of Class Ink, a hair and tattoo parlor for the past seven years.

The say they never expected anything like this to happen to them.

"I never thought it would be a total loss. I thought it would have been the back of the Chinese restaurant or the apartments upstairs and they would get it under control right away," said Morgan Crabb, owner of Touch of Class Ink.

While their loss has been difficult, they say that clients have remained supportive.

"Even a guy last night that was really close by was like I know had an appointment tomorrow, I'll wait for you; I'm not going anywhere else.

"Pulls out a hundred dollars and says here take this," said Crabb.

But feelings about losing their business are still hard.

"This is our life; you know we built this from the ground up when we first moved in to this building. It was nothing, it was just old and nasty," said Crabb.

"6 days a week for years, it’s all we do. We're at work or at home. This is our other home," said Galindo.

"I feel like it hasn't all set in yet, just happened. I'm kind of thinking I'm going to work tomorrow," said Galindo.

But they say they're happy no one was hurt badly in the fire.

"Nobody got hurt. We can replace our material things. Nobody got hurt and that's what’s important," said Crabb.
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(WEAU) - It was a sight that horrified witnesses early this morning as flames reached heights of about 30 feet in the air.

"We had people in the building who were trying to get out. We had one woman in the window on the front side on spring street side getting ready to jump out of the window and the firefighters talked her out of it and we rescued her off the ladder," said Chief Tom Larson.

About 80%of the roof collapsed where the fire started on the 15 and a half block of Spring Street, affecting more than one building.

"The tanning salon, and there's 3 apartments above it and the next building has two businesses the Hong Kong restaurant and the tattoo parlor, and there's five apartments upstairs of that one, that's the building that it started in," said Larson.

Larson says Touch of Class Ink and Hong Kong House restaurant had the most damage.

Yet, the restaurant was vacant because owners are relocating the business. Meanwhile, Touch of Class owners say they have to rebuild their seven year business.

Tan Fastic also had damage.

Meanwhile the fire department says the flames were difficult to put out.

"Very aggressive because this is one of the buildings that are our target hazards, this is one of the oldest parts of downtown these buildings are probably 140, 150 years old," said Larson.
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Eau Claire, Wis. (WEAU) -- An early morning fire has destroyed an apartment complex in Chippewa Falls.

It happened at 15 1/2 Spring Street around midnight Wednesday.

The Chippewa Falls Fire Dept. says one person was taken to the hospital with burned hands.

Crews say when they arrived the back of the building was fully engulfed and someone was hanging out of the front window.

Several apartments and businesses were destroyed, including the Hong Kong House and of Touch of Class Ink.

Crews say around 80 percent of the roof has collapsed.

Part of Bridge Street was closed for some time.

However, the 15th block of West Spring Street will be closed for most of the day.

No cause has yet been determined, but crews do say someone had reported an electrical problem yesterday.