Two men from Nappanee have been arrested for arson after a massive fire Saturday morning in downtown Nappanee.

The fire broke out at Graber's Carpet Studio and spread to John's Butcher Shop and the Nappanee Theater in downtown Nappanee. The stores are located in the 100-block of North Main Street, between East Walnut and Market Streets.

Firefighters say that the fire started around 6:45 a.m. Saturday morning in an apartment hallway on the second floor above Graber's Carpet Studio. One person had to be rescued from the apartments. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

The Nappanee Police Department immediately began following leads on information they received, and eventually made two arrests.

Joseph L. McCall and Gregory Kimbert Crafton, both 22 and from Nappanee, are in police custody on preliminary charges of Arson as a class A felony and Residential Entry as a class D felony.

Paperwork was submitted to the Elkhart County Prosecutor's office for a probable cause hearing on Sunday, January 20th.

Nappanee has already seen the support of a strong community—someone has even offered Graber a place to set up shop temporarily.

“It's devastating for the city of Nappanee to have to go through something like this,” says Elkhart County Emergency Mgmt. Director Jennifer Tobey.

Crews from eight departments, including the Nappanee, Bremen, Wakarusa, Foraker, New Paris, Plain Twp., Harrison Twp., and Milford fire departments were all called to the scene.

Firefighters worked throughout the day to put out the fire, and the cold, windy conditions make fighting fire an icy battle.

Firefighters actually had to destroy what was left of the building to make sure the fire was out. Neighboring businesses only had minor damage, thanks to a firewall between them.

Emma Hochstetler, who lived in one of the apartments, said the half dozen residents got out in a hurry.

“Everybody was running around to get out, and at least everybody got out of there safe. Kind of scary, but right now I’m OK, and I’m just glad to be out of there alive,” Hochstetler said.

Hochstetler says she didn't know how the blaze started, but noticed something suspicious as she ran out of the building.

“A gas can was on the bottom of the stairs, when you went down there it was burning on its side, and it was burning up the stairway, and I could see the flames coming up,” Hochstetler said.

She says she didn't know either of the men arrested.

“When I went down to the police station they found some prints, footprints that matched them, and they asked me a couple times if I’d ever seen that gas can, and I said nope, that's the first time I’d seen it,” Hochstetler said.

Sunday, Nappanee’s volunteer fire fighters continued to work - returning 3 times to put out hot spots in the building.

And after a solid day and a half of work, they're glad the arrests were made.

“It's wonderful, just the fact that they caught the guys,” said Fire Chief Tom Anglin. “I don’t know all the circumstances behind it, but I can assure the people that the community is safe.”

The community that has been so supportive through the tornado recovery, has shown the same to Hochstetler and the others put out by the blaze.

“As far as I know everybody does have a place to stay, and the Red Cross and Eagle's Wings, and I do know the Salvation Army was here yesterday, that was a tremendous help for us,” Anglin said.

Hochstetler is staying with a friend for the time being, and actually was already planning to leave town Monday - for a trip to Florida.

She's still leaving, and says by the time she gets back, she hopes to be in a new apartment.

When WNDU spoke to Mayor Larrry Thompson Sunday night, he said he was “disgusted” to hear that the fire may be arson, after all the community has been through the past few months.

But, he's also thankful they again avoided a situation that could have been much worse - since no one was seriously injured.

Anglin says there were 3 minor injuries as a result of the fire.