It has been just over a year since a fire destroyed the Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak-Cutler funeral home near 78th and Center, and the work to rebuild the mortuary is moving along swiftly.
Director Bill Cutler tells NewsRadio 1110 KFAB that the new building should be open this Fall. "We will be in the new building in September of this year and everything is just going as well as it could."
The mortuary's insurer recently filed a lawsuit in connection with the fire that states that a Pennsylvania crematory company did not rebuild the funeral home's cremation machine correctly, causing the blaze that injured four people.
"It was one that had been completely redone. We would periodically have the crematory checked for safety issues. It had been redone, oh probably, 30 to 60 days prior to the fire."
Cutler himself was injured in the fire when he attempted to re-enter the building to retrieve the bodies of the deceased who were inside the building as the blaze consumed it.
Cutler says the fire caused millions in damages. "I don't think the final dollar amount has been determined, but it's in excess of five million dollars at this point."
Once the reconstruction is complete, the new facility will be larger than the old one and will feature an expanded parking lot.
(Photo courtesy of WOWT 6 News)