Pennsylvania – The second major fire in six months on Shenandoah’s Main Street has downtown leaders in the northern Schuylkill County borough reeling. A landmark building that had been in the borough more than a century was destroyed in a three-alarm fire Friday night, officials said.
More than 200 firefighters from at least 20 Schuylkill companies battled the flames until about 4 a.m. Saturday at the former Davison Furniture Store at 121 N. Main St., Shenandoah Fire Chief Richard D. Mensick said.
The fire spread to an adjacent building, causing heavy damage to that structure and the newly opened nightclub it housed, Mensick said.
A third storefront that housed a small tailor shop was damaged. The owner of that building lived above the shop and was displaced.
The furniture store closed three years ago after more than 100 years, and a thrift store took its place, said Valerie Macdonald, president of Shenandoah’s Main Street organization.
Macdonald said she was hoping a developer would buy the 28,000-square-foot building, which was for sale, and make it an incubator for businesses.
Macdonald noted that her group recently received $60,000 it could distribute to building owners for facade improvements and hoped that would spruce up the downtown. She doubted the state grants could be used for rebuilding structures.
“We’re looking to invest money in the community,” said Macdonald, who owns Caledonia Antiques, directly across the street from the former furniture store. “This is terrible for the neighborhood. It really hurts our revitalization effort.”
In June, a fire in the 200 block of South Main Street destroyed the former post office and two row houses.
Mensick said the cause of this weekend’s fire is under investigation. He estimated total damage at more than $200,000.
A state police fire marshal is investigating, but the smoldering fire was hampering the probe, the chief said.
The fire was discovered about 9:10 by a disc jockey and a bouncer at the neighboring Thunder Road nightclub. They saw the reflection of flames flickering in a storefront window across the street and called 9-1-1, the chief said. Everyone inside the club got out safely, the chief said.
When the fire was discovered, the disc jockey was setting up equipment for a Friday night dance party, said Andrea Babarsky, club co-owner.
Babarsky said she and her husband, Robert, bought the building, a formerly J.C. Penney department store that more recently housed a Goodwill Industries store, about 11 /2 years ago. They fixed up the structure themselves and opened the nightclub in July.
The distraught couple worked Saturday afternoon to salvage equipment from the building even as small fires continued to burn inside.
Mensick said the fire was more powerful than the one that destroyed three buildings in June.
“It was one of the biggest,” Mensick said. “It had a real big fire load to it and it was harder to contain.”
Written by Reading Eagle
