Huge fire rips through St. Johnsbury building - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

Huge fire rips through St. Johnsbury building

A huge fire in downtown St. Johnsbury.

The fire is at the Artistic Gardens building on 430-438 Railroad Street. Fire officials say multiple departments from Vermont and New Hampshire are on scene. The street has been shut down as crews work to contain the fire.

The fire began this afternoon and has been raging through the evening. So far the Red Cross says at least eight units in the building have been affected and more units also sustained heavy damage.

Witnesses tell us the building dates back to 1879. Diana Chaloux-LaCerte was on Railroad Street shopping with her mother. Her husband Micah took this video. They say the flames were shooting out from the upstairs apartments.

"We had literally just walked by maybe five minutes earlier and it was like no, we don't need anything in there, so we crossed the street and walked down towards the other end and that's when the fire trucks started coming down," says Chaloux-LaCerte. "You just came around the corner and flames were just shooting right out."

"My father's house is very close to there so we can still see the smoke coming up," she added. "It was about at least 2 hours later and there were still flames coming up."

The Red Cross officials assisted those displaced by the fire.