Hazel, 67, and his wife, Donna, could only stand at the end of the driveway at 6695 E Drive North in Emmett Township as the house burned. Neither was home when the fire started, and no one was injured.
"Right now, I am just numb," Jim Hazel said, watching flames erupting through the roof. "I am just sick. My mind keeps delving back to the stuff that is in there."
Hazel said thousands of pieces of Battle Creek memorabilia — including items from the Kellogg Company, hot air balloon competitions, Boy Scouting and Harper Creek schools — were lost in the fire.
"The house I am not so worried about," he said. "The historical stuff is irreplaceable; there was 40 or 50 years of stuff."
Hazel said he left the home about 6 a.m. for work and his wife left about 9 a.m. He wasn't feeling well and returned to take a short nap before attending his noon Rotary Club meeting and saw smoke inside the house.
"I started to go in; I tried to go in the front, but the smoke was black," he said. "The smoke just billowed out."
He drove the half-mile to his business, Jim Hazel Citgo at 14301 Beadle Lake Road, and called 911. He said he believes a neighbor probably saw smoke and also called.
The fire was reported about 10:30 a.m.
"Flames were through the roof when we arrived," Frank Post, director of public safety for Emmett Township, said.
Firefighters from Emmett Township were assisted by Newton, Leroy and Pennfield township firefighters.
Water was a problem because hydrants are not installed along the roadway and firefighters had to use tankers to shuttle water from the corner of E Drive and Beadle Lake Road.
"We had heavy fire in the back of the house and extending through to the garage and through the roof," Lt. Tony Geigle said. "And anytime you have a fire in a rural area without hydrants, you have to do tanker shuttles, and it takes a while to get going."
Firefighters were still at the scene at 6 p.m., and Geigle said the department's fire marshal and an insurance adjuster were expected to begin looking for the cause Monday night.
Hazel said his wife left after turning on the microwave and he said they were using space heaters while awaiting repair of a furnace damaged by an electrical surge during a recent storm.
The fire does not appear to be suspicious, Geigle said, but he did not offer a possible cause. The house was a total loss but an estimate of the value has not been determined.
"The historical items are irreplaceable," Hazel said. "The photographs I have taken, the history I have collected."
Barb Haluszka, executive director of the Battle Creek Hot Air Balloon Championships, said Hazel was on the photography committee since balloon championships began in Battle Creek in 1980. While many of his pictures were duplicated, many more were originals and, along with historical balloon pins and other balloon memorabilia lost in the fire, couldn't be replaced.
"It's just too bad," she said.
Michael Martich, a local Battle Creek historian, said one of his fears is how much memorabilia can be lost in fires.
"When I heard about it, it put a tear in my eye," he said. "I remember the slogan, 'once burned, never returned.'"
"It is part of our town and everyone has a little niche, like guys with railroad collections, band collections and things from the 1931 Centennial Parade.
"I knew Jim had a collection and he was always running around with a camera. It's a sad day," he said.
Hazel said he and his wife built the house in 1964 on what is now 17 acres. He retired from the service station four years ago, in part because of his arthritis and diabetes. His son now runs the station, but Hazel still works there every day. He also is a member of many organizations in the Battle Creek area.
Brenda Hunt, president and chief executive officer of the Battle Creek Community Foundation, said Hazel rejected offers from friends in the community for financial help.
Instead, Hunt said, he encouraged people to contribute to a new fund at the foundation called the Hazel Special Assistance Fund, which will be used to assist others in the community.
"He said, 'We will be OK; let's get something started for others,'" Hunt said.
Tax-deductible contributions can be made to the Hazel Special Assistance Fund at the Battle Creek Community Foundation