By Frank Andruscavage
The Republican & Herald
SHENANDOAH, Pa. — Fire destroyed three vacant downtown businesses and damaged a bank early Sunday morning, bringing volunteers out in temperatures that hovered about zero degrees.
Firefighters were called to the rear of National Penn Bank, 5-7 N. Main St., and found the back of an adjacent building at 9-11 N. Main St. ablaze.
Shenandoah fire marshal Rick Examitas was taking an ambulance call with Lost Creek EMS about 4:15 a.m. and came to Main and Centre streets in Shenandoah, where he smelled smoke.
“I looked out and saw heavy smoke coming from that third-floor window,” he said of the 9-11 N. Main St. building.
Examitas said he notified the Schuylkill County Communications Center, which quickly dispatched firefighters to the scene.
Examitas said that despite efforts to contain the blaze to that one structure, flames spread and caused severe damage to another vacant business and apartments at 13 N. Main St. Another vacant business and apartments at 15 N. Main St. sustained lesser amounts of damage.
Firefighters worked into the daylight hours to bring the blaze under control.
Examitas said that although National Penn Bank did not sustain fire damage, the building had a substantial amount of water in the basement. Additional water damage occurred when a pipe feeding a water cooler in the bank area on the first floor burst, the marshal said.
State police fire marshal Trooper Joseph Hall of the Schuylkill Haven station was at the scene later Sunday morning and is working with fire officials to try and determine exactly what sparked the blaze.
Outside the rear of 9-11 N. Main St., Hall said portions of that building’s roof collapsed, causing additional damage on top of what was caused by the fire itself.
The bank was closed at the time of the fire and no one lived in any of the buildings involved, Examitas said.
He said one firefighter suffered minor injuries and no one else was hurt.
Examitas and Hall said the investigation is continuing and that the exact origin has yet to be determined. Examitas said fire officials did not know who owned the vacant buildings but will try to track the owners down.
Firefighters from Shenandoah and surrounding communities responded to the fire that went a total of three alarms, borough Fire Chief Russ Schumack said.
He said an additional fourth alarm was struck, bringing yet additional firefighters to the borough to stand by in Shenandoah fire stations.
The Ryan Township Rescue Squad was at the scene with the rehabilitation tent to provide shelter and heat for firefighters taking a break from fighting the blaze. The American Red Cross also assisted firefighters in battling the cold.
Traffic was detoured around the fire scene by Shenandoah Fire Police assisted by borough police and fire police from other departments.
Shenandoah ALS and Lost Creek EMS were at the scene, along with EMS units from surrounding communities.
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