SHAMOKIN - A three-alarm fire displaced at least five people from a city apartment building at the corner of Sunbury and Washington streets early Thursday morning.
No serious injuries were reported; however, city police said one tenant of 301 E. Sunbury St. was transported by a private vehicle to an area hospital for evaluation.
R. Craig Rhoades, Shamokin's director of public safety, said the fire was so intense that flames shooting from the building's first floor extended over the sidewalk and into East Sunbury Street (Route 61).
"They were out in the middle of the street when I got here," Rhoades said.
There was an initial report of entrapment, he said, but that was unfounded.
The fire was first reported at 3:19 a.m. Everyone was cleared to be back in service at 12:10 p.m. The entire Shamokin Fire Bureau responded. They were assisted by Coal Township firefighters and volunteers from six other departments, some of whom were placed on standby in the event of another emergency in the city.
Much of the damage appeared to be on the first floor, where windows and a doorway were smashed out and their frames charred black; exterior siding was charred or melted away.
The flames spread to the second and third floors, where windows were either opened or broken out. A second-story front porch also sustained damage.
Firefighters were positioned on the building's west side on Washington Street and in front on East Sunbury Street. Some entered the structure and worked on all three floors. Others were inside an adjoining apartment building at 305 E. Sunbury St. to prevent flames from spreading to that building.
Onlookers gathered in groups on East Sunbury Street and side streets, watching as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.
City police Patrolman Raymond Siko II, fire investigator, and State Police Fire Marshal Norm Fedder investigated the scene.
Siko said the fire originated on the stove in the kitchen on the first floor near the front entrance and is ruled accidental.
"We're not exactly sure when someone may or may not have been cooking on the stove. We don't know if the stove was accidentally turned on. As far as anything intentional, no, it was not like that," he said.
The building at 301 E. Sunbury St. was condemned Thursday, said Siko, but he did not know the monetary value the damage caused.
The property was insured, he said.
Sabrina Hummel, 27, the first-floor tenant at 301 E. Sunbury St., was dressed in a nightgown and was without shoes as she spoke about the fire.
Her mother lives nearby on Washington Street. Hummel said she was there with her sons, Logan, 23 months, and Xzavier, 3, using her mother's washer and dryer and preparing lunch for later in the day.
She finished up and carried the youngest as his brother walked alongside returning to their apartment. When they turned the corner and approached the front of the building, they saw the fire.
She said she ran to a nearby apartment building to seek help.
"I looked in and it looked like the whole kitchen was in flames," she said while standing with friends across Washington Street.
Hummel was in good spirits, all things considered. A friend asked why she wasn't crying.
"I can't cry about this. It's just stuff," she said of possessions likely lost in the fire. "My kids are fine. I'll probably cry later."
Hummel said she and her children have a place to stay.
Owners, tenants identified
City police Cpl. Darwin Tobias III identified the building owner as Jeff Costello, Mount Carmel. Dave Bango, of Kulpmont, owns 305 E. Sunbury St.
Other tenants identified by Tobias and Siko were Aaron Shaffer, Amanda Bentley and a child, who all lived on the second floor who technically reside at 803 N. Washington St.; Robert Montefusco, a third-floor resident at 803 E, Sunbury St.; Floyd Ward at 305 E. Sunbury St.; Barbara Spino at 305 E. Sunbury St. and an 8-year-old child listed.
Rhoades said Costello also owns 305 E. Sunbury St.
That's where Floyd Ward, his fiancee, Barbara Spino, and three others reside in an apartment.
Ward said he was awake and using a computer in his bedroom when he heard "crashing, banging and popping."
"I could see the flames shooting off the front porch in the windows (across the street), in the reflection," he said.
Rhoades said 305 E. Sunbury St. sustained mostly smoke damage and that flames did not spread into the building.
Damage at 301 E. Sunbury St. was caused by fire, water and smoke, he said.
There are five apartment units at 301 E. Sunbury St., two of which were vacant, a fire official said.
Other fire department responding or on standby were Coal Township, Kulpmont, Overlook, Elysburg, Upper Augusta, Atlas, Sunbury and Mount Carmel, according to Rhoades and the county's 911 center.
(Staff Writer Justin Strawser contributed to this report.)