The pungent smell left behind from the May 12 Sixth Street fire can still be noticed at City Hall.

“It was a summer from Hell,” Mayor Dan Cougill said, describing the months of efforts dedicated to overcome structural damages.

The fire, which began on the balcony of a building connected to city hall, destroyed the two buildings, which housed a children’s clothing store, Giraffe, and the home of the Children’s Advocacy Center.

The upstairs was leased out as an apartment.

Adjacent buildings, which include both city hall and the police station, were also damaged.

Witnesses pinpointed a wooden balcony in the rear of the building as the source of the fire, but its cause is still undetermined.

“Why it started is still kind of up in the air,” Cougill said.

Both roofs were in need of repair after the fire and city hall’s interior was damaged by smoke and water.

“A crew is working now to replace the police station roof,” he said.

Four feet of drywall on city hall’s east side will have to be ripped out and redone to overcome heat damage.

Since city hall was built so close to the building, the connected walls were not insulated. “They will have to rebuild and insulate the walls.”

Once those walls are complete, a roofing crew will finish repairing city hall’s roof and the wall’s exterior will be painted.

“Insurance fully covers it,” Cougill said about the estimated half-million dollars of repairs.

John Sutfin, Jr., who rented a studio apartment above Giraffe lost most of his belongings, said family friend Gayle Strader. Sutfin’s mother said he was living at home in Carpentersville when the fire occurred.

“It is sad because, if you go away you think the things you left are going to be there when you get back,” Strader said. “For him, they weren’t.”

Sutfin is enrolled at Eastern this year but was not available for comment.

City editor Carly Mullady can be reached at [email protected]