Fire tears through vacant East Cleveland building on Euclid Avenue; mayor plans emergency demolition

Firefighters spent Friday evening battling a fire that tore through a vacant building on Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland the second time the structure has burned in recent weeks.

Watch video of the fire below:

Fire tears through vacant East Cleveland building; mayor vows demolition

A News 5 crew already in town for a different story noticed smoke filling the air just after 4 p.m. Friday and found the building at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Van Buren Road on fire.

Initially, the flames were shooting from the windows near the back corner of the building, then they shot through the roof.

Mayor Sandra Morgan was in her office at City Hall when she saw the fire.

"I looked out of my window and saw this and nearly fell out of my chair," Morgan said. "It was the most fire I've ever seen my entire life."

Normally busy Euclid Avenue was blocked off as firefighters from East Cleveland and surrounding communities fought the flames.

Firefighters and police said it was the second time the building burned in recent weeks.

Tammora Reed works across the street and says the empty building is a magnet for problems and fires.

"You've got people smoking dope in these buildings. Either they're in there getting high and they do it by accident, or they go in there and do it on purpose," Reed said.

Firefighters say it's too early to know how this fire started. But Reed says it's time for the building to go.

"I'm worried that someone is going to die in there. Somebody's going to die in that building. Someone unhoused with no resources is going to go in there and perish. That's my concern," Reed said.

County records show the three-story building dates back to 1915 and has been owned by East Cleveland's land bank since 2023.

Morgan says it's now a danger to the community, standing right on the Euclid Avenue corridor, and plans to order an emergency demolition.

"There's no two ways about it. It has to come down immediately," Morgan said.

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