Building owner reacts to Calumet fire

The Fifth Street fire is believed to have originated at the former Evergreen Inn around 10:45 Friday night. That building was just purchased by a familiar name. Morten Haugland works in education in Columbus, Ohio, but he is quickly becoming a titan of the Copper Country. In recent years, Haugland has bought Jim’s Pizza, along with several buildings deemed to be at risk of collapse in the Village of Calumet.

He says he watched in horror late Friday from his Ohio home as livestreams cropped up across social media. Haugland says because there is an active investigation, he is unable to discuss much in regards to the fire itself.

Having just closed on the property doesn’t yield much in the way of publicly available information on 108 Fifth Street. Keweenaw Report reached out to Houghton County Building Inspector Todd LaRue to see if he was involved in examining the property for the sale. LaRue says that is handled by private services. LaRue also said that each jurisdiction maintains its own zoning authority, which oversee renovations.

Investigators have many things to consider as they try to determine the cause of the blaze. Haugland says he had not begun renovations on the property. That rules out one potential accidental origin for the fire. Nothing has been ruled out at this point, including criminal conduct.

Haugland lived in Hancock from 1990 to 1997 and graduated from Northern Michigan University. He plans to retire in Calumet.