By Frank Cozzoli
Patriot News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2007 The Patriot News Co.
All Rights Reserved
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Elizabeth Conrad and Sarah Long arrived about an hour early yesterday for their 12: 30 p.m. league at the ABC East bowling center in Swatara Twp. Then, they saw smoke coming from the direction of the first lane.
The Rutherford Heights women grabbed their coats and bowling gear. “I said, ‘Hurry up, Sarah. Let’s get out of here,’” Conrad recounted later.
Good call.
Less than an hour later, as more than 100 firefighters battled the two-alarm blaze, the roof of the Eisenhower Boulevard bowling alley collapsed in flames and thick black smoke. Fire officials declared the structure a total loss.
Gary Bower, whose father opened the East Shore fixture in 1958, watched in dismay. Bower, whose family runs three Harrisburg-area alleys, said employees Ron Espenshade and Victor Vogel discovered the fast-spreading fire in a storage room shortly before noon and hurried four customers out of the building.
Vogel said he was coming inside after dumping trash when Espenshade told him the building was on fire. “And I didn’t believe him. Then I saw the flames and I was shocked,” Vogel said.
When light bulbs started to pop, the men realized there was nothing they could do. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it with a fire extinguisher,” Vogel said. “Then all hell broke loose.”
A third employee, Gary Weidner, stayed behind trying to save cash register receipts. When township police arrived about 11: 47 a.m., Weidner was still inside.
“I grabbed his arm and told him we have to leave now,” police Cpl. Vito Damone said. “I don’t think he actually believed the fire was this bad.”
Damone said flames were shooting 5 to 6 feet high along the first five lanes of the 32-lane alley. “As we were leaving the building, you could hear the roof collapsing behind us,” Damone said.
The first fire chief to arrive, Chuck Berry of Swatara Twp. Fire Company No. 1, immediately called for a second alarm.
For about 30 minutes, smoke poured from the front and side doors, then the roof of the half-barrel-shaped building caved in. Not until 3: 39 p.m. did fire officials declare the blaze under control.
Craig Powers, Swatara Twp.'s deputy emergency management coordinator, said firefighters shuttled water in tanker trucks to get the volume they needed.
“We needed more water than what [the hydrants] could pump out,” Powers said. He said United Water Co. worked to boost the water flow, causing problems for nearby businesses.
There were no reports of injuries to firefighters.
Weidner was taken to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where a spokeswoman last night said he was in good condition. Police said he suffered smoke inhalation.
At the height of the fire, Eisenhower Boulevard was closed between Lindle and Quarry roads.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, officials said. Two state police deputy fire marshals and a fire investigator from the Dauphin County district attorney’s office were at the scene.
Bower is president of Automatic Bowling Centre Inc., which also owns ABC West in Silver Spring Twp. and ABC North in Lower Paxton Twp. He told reporters the business is insured and that losses bowlers might have suffered to equipment stored in lockers also are covered.
Bower’s father, Jack, founded the business and revolutionized bowling in the area by introducing automatic pinsetters, automatic scoring and synthetic lanes, said Patriot-News bowling writer Jeremy Elliott.
George Turnbull of New Cumberland rolls most of his games on the West Shore, but he knows Gary Bower and has competed in many tournaments at ABC East. When he heard about the fire, he drove to the scene.
“They made it family oriented for everybody and something like this happens,” Turnbull said. “Unbelievable.”