A fire at Evans Repair & Tire in downtown Stanton early Monday morning closed out 2025 with one of the larger breaking news events of the year. — DN file photo
As 2025 comes to a close, it marks another busy chapter as I prepare to embark on year 15 as a reporter at the Daily News.
Trying to put into perspective 12 months of work — covering hundreds of board meetings, dozens of feature stories, numerous breaking-news events and more — it can be difficult to select only a handful of moments that stand out.
Including this New Year’s Eve edition of the Daily News, I wrap up the year having written 371 bylined articles — one more than the previous year, by my unofficial count.
From my most enjoyable story to the most difficult, there is plenty to choose from. But I want to revisit my most recent — and perhaps most memorable — breaking-news story of the year: Monday’s structure fire in downtown Stanton.
It may have been my final news event of 2025, but as you will see, it stands out as perhaps my most exciting, most difficult and most memorable news event of the year — despite the recency bias.
An early wake-up call
The event is only two days removed from the present, but it stands out given some circumstances that came into play.
This story begins Sunday evening, as I drifted to sleep to the background noise of Sunday Night Football.
I had no immediate plans for the morning to come. No alarm was set on my phone.
I was using my final vacation days of the year, with Monday and Tuesday scheduled off and no plans beyond enjoying some rest and relaxation at home.
I had desired to end 2025 on a peaceful note.
That changed in the early hours of a vacation day that never came to be.
At 2:04 a.m. Monday, an alarm blared on my phone — an alert from the dispatch app I use in cooperation with the Greenville Department of Public Safety. Whenever the department is dispatched to a fire call, I also, as the Greenville reporter, receive an alert — a measure of trust that took years of reporting to earn.
Half-asleep, I didn’t think much of it. It could have been a carbon monoxide alarm or a gas leak — nothing that would warrant getting out of bed for a news story.
Within eight minutes, five more alerts rang out, each beginning with the same message — “STRUCTURE FIRE.”
A fire call with smoke and flames reported had been dispatched in downtown Stanton, and Greenville being requested for mutual aid was a strong indicator this would be a significant fire.
I leapt out of bed, pulled on some blue jeans and a sweatshirt, and grabbed several pairs of winter gloves, a full-face liner and new electronic hand warmers I had received for Christmas.
I strapped into my winter boots, grabbed my camera and began the 25-minute drive to Stanton, knowing now that it was the Evans Repair & Tire business that was on fire.
The forecast was worsening. Temperatures hovered just above freezing when I left Greenville, but were expected to drop quickly, with light rain overnight turning roads to ice, and winds potentially exceeding 35 mph with temperatures to fall below 20 degrees.
Despite that adversity, that’s when my brain flips over into “journalist mode.”
The decision had been made. Stanton, here I come.
Adrenaline takes over
I arrived in Stanton shortly after 3 a.m. — about an hour after the initial call — to find multiple fire departments engaged on all sides of the building.
Before snapping my first photo, I encountered the owners of the property, who were watching the tragedy unfold from the other side of Court Street.
After they flagged me down, I identified myself and they assured me no one had been inside at the time of the fire, meaning there were believed to be no injuries.
With that information, I was now prepared to cover the scene with no risk or intention of being insensitive.
It was clearly not the moment for pressing questions of the owners, so I shifted to my immediate task — documenting the scene.
I offered condolences, then began photographing the dozens of firefighters — from wide shots of the structure to close-ups of axes swinging and hoses spraying water.
Despite the lack of sleep, adrenaline took over.
After 14 years of covering fires locally, most firefighters in the area know who I am and how I work, and they graciously allow broad access to capture images from nearly every angle.
A Stanton resident, Devin Wells, who lives in a second-story apartment across the street, even invited me onto the roof of the building to capture overhead photos — an added element to what I knew would be a front-page photo package.
After nearly three hours and 800 photos, I wrapped up an interview with Stanton Fire Chief Brian Brasington and returned to my car to post a short online news brief from my phone.
With my laptop left at home, I retreated back to Greenville — roads now covered in drifting snow — to write the full story and edit photos.
Despite the time spent on the scene and the material gathered, my job wasn’t finished.
Empathy and information
When I first arrived in Stanton, the owners of Evans Repair & Tire were in shock, overwhelmed with anger and sadness. I knew it wasn’t the right moment to approach them — but their perspective was essential to telling the full story.
After making coffee and changing clothes, I drove back to Stanton as daylight lingered just beyond the horizon.
I arrived around 7:30 a.m., laptop in tow, and edited photos from my parked car, narrowing the selection to a 20-image gallery.
I typed out my interview with Chief Brasington, and with the sun now risen, returned to the scene, where firefighters were wrapping up operations and placing caution tape around the structure.
That’s where I found Doug Evans and Tyler Davis, sitting together in their work truck, still absorbing what had unfolded hours earlier.
With the window rolled down, I approached them and apologized for being so brief earlier. I offered my condolences and explained my goal — to help the community understand the tragedy through their perspective.
This wasn’t just a structure fire of a downtown building. There was a personal side of the story to tell.
With time separating them from the initial shock, we spoke for about 10 minutes — less an interview and more a conversation — as they shared their resolve, including a vow to rebuild.
“We’ll be back, it will happen. It’s a nightmare, but it will turn out to have a happy ending — guaranteed,” Evans said.
Afterward, I stopped briefly for breakfast at the Stanton McDonald’s, then returned to Greenville. Following a short nap, I pushed through the final stretch — writing the full article and filing photo captions for the next day’s edition of the Daily News.
Between icy road conditions, back-and-forth trips, hundreds of photos, in-person interviews and hours of writing and editing, I had effectively put in a full day’s work.
So much for that vacation day, eh?
But that’s the nature of the job. I couldn’t have enjoyed the day off knowing I had missed covering one of the most significant breaking-news events of the year.
I was the only member of the media present — a reflection of the expectation placed on your local newspaper, one that has served the community for 171 years, to remain vigilant and cover events that matter.
A year in review
Looking back on the past 12 months, countless stories stand out.
There was the Jan. 31 fire that destroyed La Cocina Mexican restaurant, followed by the owners’ rebuilding and reopening just three months later.
March brought an exclusive interview with Congressman John Moolenaar, along with the first-ever district championship for the Greenville High School robotics team.
Quad Graphics closed its Greenville operation in May after 57 years, laying off 72 employees, while companies such as Marvel Refrigeration, Kent Foundry and Crandall Office Furniture embarked on expansions.
New retail businesses opened, including Morning Glow Coffee, while others closed, such as Northside Sports Complex (less than a month after opening).
City planners approved a 172-unit housing development behind Meijer, paving the way for the long-anticipated connection of Grosvenor Drive to Baldwin Road.
Emotions ran high at the Flat River Pride Festival in Montcalm Township, and the Korsons of Sidney Township gained national attention by presenting the official White House Christmas Tree to the first lady in Washington, D.C.
With so much covered, it’s hard to predict what 2026 will bring.
Greenville is set to welcome Green Shield Deck Builders’ relocation from Kentwood, bringing an estimated 300 jobs over five years. The YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids is projecting a groundbreaking on its Greenville location this spring, with an anticipated opening in 2027.
Montcalm Community College will open its first-ever dormitory in fall 2026, and Phase 3 of Greenville’s $35.7 million wastewater treatment plant project is expected to begin, setting the stage for continued growth.
There’s no way to anticipate what the coming year will hold, but if recent history is any indication, there will be no shortage of news to cover across the greater Greenville community. I only hope you’ll continue to support our efforts here at the Daily News, be it as a subscriber or reader of the occasional article, as we work to continue providing you with the important happenings of your surrounding communities.
