Donora house fire damages youth center
Donora fire Chief Patsy Vince waits for a state police fire marshal to investigate the cause of a blaze early Tuesday that destroyed a vacant house at 159 Linden Way and spread to a nearby youth center.
Flames consume a house at 159 Linden Way in Donora early Tuesday.
DONORA – A state police fire marshal was asked to investigate the cause of a blaze early Tuesday at a vacant house that quickly spread to a neighboring youth center, canceling activities there until further notice.
No one was injured in the fire that engulfed 159 Linden Way and blew out six windows at the Mon Valley Youth & Teen Association building, causing heavy smoke damage throughout the brick structure.
“We are lucky,” said center director Mary Anne Bandalo, who needs to find a new location to run her food pantry until damages are repaired at the former synagogue.
“Everything that is not in cans has to be pitched,” she said.
Bandalo said she received a phone call about the fire at the small frame house, which was reported at 12:25 a.m. The identity of the person who owns the house was not immediately known.
The fire also destroyed the center’s electrical service, Bandalo said.
Donora Mayor Don Pavelko said the origin of the fire appears suspicious. Pavelko said he believed the house was occupied a few weeks ago, but that no one was living there at the time of the fire.
Bandalo said she doubted there is another location in the borough that could become a temporary home to the after-school program she runs on Tuesdays and Wednesday for 40 children who are in kindergarten through fifth grade.
“It could have been a lot worse,” she said.