ELYSBURG - The Elysburg Fire Department will turn to a state police fire marshal to help sort out the cause of a fire that ignited Sunday afternoon inside a mostly vacant commercial building on East Mill Street.
Deputy Chief Robert Dluge wouldn't say if the cause is suspicious, only saying that it remains undetermined. The fire marshal is expected on scene early this morning.
There were two cars stored inside along with some auto parts and barrels of used oil, and not much else. Jim Levan has owned the building since 1992. He said it had been rewired in the mid-1990s. The transformer was located on a utility pole at the opposite end from where the fire appears to have ignited.
"It sits empty. That's why it's so puzzling," Levan said.
Tim Eckert, of Coal Township, rents the space along with Vic Lisiewski of neighboring Vic's Transmissions. The cars were his, 1969 and 1972 models of the Ford Maverick. He used the older model to drag race. The newer model was being overhauled, but not on Sunday. No one was working in the building, Eckert said.
"There shouldn't have been anybody in there. It was locked up," he said.
With no insurance on the vehicles, he estimated he's out $20,000 at a minimum.
The southwest corner of the large, brick building sustained the most significant fire damage, with the integrity of the roof above that section called into question. Dluge said it appears that's where the fire began.
Eric Haupt was among the initial responders. He and fellow firefighters from Elysburg Fire Department didn't have far to go when the alarm sounded about 4:06 p.m. - the building, former site of Reliable Glass Construction, is right across the street.
"It was fully involved," Haupt said.
Dluge was just around the corner at the fire's onset. He said he could see smoke rising from one block away. "The whole building was charged with smoke," he said.
"When it hit an oxygen source, the fire traveled the entire length of the roof," he said, estimating the roof was at least 100 feet long. At one point, firefighters were ordered away from the southeast corner of the building out of fears of a potential collapse.
A series of "pops" were heard during the blaze, about three. Dluge said they were likely caused when "pressurized vessels" exploded, like paint cans.
Doyle Horne, of 192 Market St., could see the smoke too. Most everyone in the Ralpho Township village likely could. His daughter didn't see any when she drove along East Mill Street before the fire alarm sounded, he said.
"Five minutes later I looked out and saw smoke," Horne said as he watched the scene from across the street outside the fire department.
Dluge explained that firefighters initiated a blitz attack upon arrival, using a high-caliber hose line to shoot water onto flames showing from the exterior. He estimated they were knocked down within 10 minutes of the alarm, after which an interior attack began.
An overhaul began within the hour, with firefighters using thermal imaging to check for flames inside the walls and ceiling, pulling them apart in spots where fire was spotted and dousing it with water.
Any insulation not pulled down during overhaul was ripped from between the roof and the beams in the building, which he estimated at a minimum of 100-by-40 feet in size. It took hours as the investigation went on. The scene wasn't cleared until just after 9 p.m.
The damage, Dluge said, "was pretty substantial" but he wasn't prepared to call the building a total loss.
The turnout from area fire departments was impressive, with members and apparatus from Elysburg, Overlook, Stonington, Shamokin, Coal Township, Danville, Riverside and Kulpmont responding. Ambulances and medics were also on scene. Mount Carmel Township was on standby, Dluge said.