By Steve Metsch and Lauren Fitz-Patrick
The Chicago Sun Times
OAK LAWN, Ill. — Standing across the street from the charred remains of Eva’s Bridal — and the ashes of her daughter’s wedding gown — Valerie Kuhl had tears streaming down her face.
She didn’t cry for herself. The tears were for her daughter, Ashley, 26, whose wedding is just a little more than two weeks away.
A massive blaze Wednesday ravaged the strip mall where the bridal store stood at 95th and Cicero in Oak Lawn.
“It’s like a nightmare,” Valerie Kuhl said. “Two weeks before the wedding . . . and all the girls’ dresses are in there, too.”
The fire destroyed the bridal store and an adjacent electronics store and severely damaged a chiropractor’s office, a mattress store and a lingerie shop.
About 80 to 100 firefighters battled the blaze, which burned for about an hour and spread to the Bedding Experts, Chiro-Med, Radio Shack and Miss Fantasia’s Boutique. There were no injuries.
The fire moved fast, said eyewitness Tyler Schrum, of Lansing.
“Flames were shooting everywhere,” said Schrum, a car salesman who works across the street.
“The dresses were in flames. You could see the wiring for the dresses. I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ It was crazy.”
Employees in the bridal shop called 911 about 2:50 p.m. after they saw smoke coming from the attic, Oak Lawn Fire Chief George Sheets said.
Firefighters arrived about three minutes later, he said.
They found “a pretty significant fire,” Sheets said. The fire spread quickly in the the wood-framed building, and a shared roof collapsed, he said.
It was too early to determine the cause of the fire, Sheets said.
Oak Lawn Division Chief Mike Kaufmann said a police investigator and fire department arson investigator would start examining the scene this morning.
Now Ashley Kuhl, of Crestwood, has to find a new wedding dress. She is scheduled to marry Rick Piwowarski, a Spanish teacher at Marist High School, on Dec. 4.
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I guess I’m just shocked.”
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