Fire damages art gallery in Berea

Crews battled a massive art gallery fire in Berea Monday evening.

It happened around 5:30 p.m. at Gallery 123 on North Broadway. The gallery serves as a place for emerging artists to develop and show their work. Another artist also rented space next door in the same building.

It took crews hours to battle the flames that were mainly coming from the roof. Fortunately, no one was inside the building at the time. Firefighters helped save some of the artwork and supplies in hopes of helping the artists who feared they lost everything.

"They've gone in and pulled what they could of my stuff out for which I am very thankful," said artist, Bob Berger.

Firefighters are not sure how the fire started, but say it started in the back of the building in a break room area. They say at this time, the fire does not look suspicious.

Artists say while not everything was saved, they are thankful the situation wasn't worse.

"It's a fire and it's devastating, but at the end of the day, it's stuff that can be replaced. I'm the artist and so I can make it again," said artist, Dwan Finney.