The Planned Parenthood clinic on Auburn Ave is back open after a fire Thursday night. The Cincinnati Fire Investigative Unit is looking into what started the fire; that investigation is standard procedure when fire fighters on the scene are not immediately able to determine a fire's cause.
Statements from the Cincinnati Fire Department and Cincinnati Police Department say the building's fire alarm went off just before midnight Thursday. Initial units arrived and requested assistance after observing "moderate smoke" coming from the rear of the building.
"Crews located a fire in a storage room on the first floor that was being contained by the sprinkler system," the CFD statement says. "Crews extinguished the remainder of the fire and conducted searches throughout the building."
The Fire Department was on scene for about an hour and a half, "removing smoke and limiting water damage from the sprinkler activation." No one was in the building at the time of the fire. CFD estimates the amount of damage at about $75,000.
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio told WVXU the building has been cleared to re-open for patient appointments on Friday, and said they are working with local authorities to determine the cause. The building includes both the Surgical Center, which provides abortion services, and the Health Center, which offers services like wellness and preventative care, STD testing and treatment, vaccines and birth control.
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