The owner of the building and the furniture business it contained estimates damage at a half-million dollars.
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\nBy Ron Devlin
\nReading Eagle<\/p>\n
Birdsboro, PA\u00c2\u00a0-\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0A 126-year-old Birdsboro factory where scores of seamstresses once sewed American flags for the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bicentennial celebration was gutted by a fire of undetermined origin Saturday.<\/p>\n
The fire erupted shortly before 10 a.m. on the third floor of the 19th-century building, once occupied by the Valley Forge Flag Co., at 420 Beacon Street.<\/p>\n
It now houses Country Additions Furniture, which restores and manufactures hutches, dining room tables and other country-style furniture.<\/p>\n
Vince Suglia of Robeson Township, a furniture craftsman who owns the building and the company, said it contained a fully stocked furniture showroom, a workshop and a stock room.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a total loss,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Suglia said with a sigh. He estimated damage to the building and its contents at about $500,000.<\/p>\n
Fire investigators from the Berks County district attorney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office combed the ruins late Saturday afternoon. An investigator declined to comment, saying the fire remained under investigation.<\/p>\n
A portion of the three-story red brick building, weakened by the fire, will be razed as soon as possible, officials said, fearing it might collapse.<\/p>\n
The fire marred the festive atmosphere of a nearby street fair sponsored by the Birdsboro Woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Club.<\/p>\n
Scott Kulp, deputy chief of Friendship Fire Company in Birdsboro, said firefighters rushed to the scene from an exhibit at the fair in nearby Mainbird Park.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We were here within minutes and it was already an inferno,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kulp, the first to arrive. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Very heavy smoke was pouring from the second and third floors.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Because of the building\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s age and construction, Kulp said, it was on the fire department\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s list of fire hazards.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We knew we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have our hands full,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kulp said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just kept dumping water on it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Birdsboro Police Chief Theo dore R. Roth said a firewall prevented the blaze from spread ing to an adjoining wing of the L-shaped structure. The wing contains paint and chemicals, he said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It could have been worse,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Roth said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We could have had an explosion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Suglia, who said the paint was in cans, doubted there would have been an explosion.<\/p>\n
Country Additions, Suglia said, was expanding. After four years in the building, he had remodeled the third floor for an unfinished-furniture showroom. Customers arrived to pick up their furniture Saturday, he said, only to see the building in flames.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Suglia mused, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all gone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He will reopen the business at another location, Suglia said.<\/p>\n
Neighbors on a dead-end street near the factory watched in horror as flames shot through the roof and a thick column of smoke rose above the southern Berks County borough.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There was a whole lot of smoke for the longest time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Dawnita Smith, who was visiting her mother a block away when the fire erupted.<\/p>\n
About 100 firefighters from Birdsboro and surrounding communities fought the fire for about three hours. About 11:15 a.m., as firefighters were gaining the upper hand, the third floor collapsed into the second floor, Roth said.<\/p>\n
Officially, the fire was out by 1 p.m., Roth said. Fearing flare-ups, firefighters remained at the scene for several hours.<\/p>\n
B.A. Hoffman, Birdsboro historian, said the factory was built in 1881 by Henry M. Willets, who manufactured children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoes. During World War II, it was occupied by a company that manufactured heavy-duty work socks.<\/p>\n
Valley Forge Flag Co. was there during the bicentennial in 1976. Hoffman was not sure when it closed.<\/p>\n
(Reporter Jason Brudereck con tributed to this article.)<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2Contact reporter Ron Devlin at 610-371-5030 or rdevlin@readingeagle.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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