No injuries reported in two weekend fires
A home at 425 Quarry Road in South Strabane was destroyed by fire early Sunday morning.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
A home at 425 Quarry Road in South Strabane was destroyed by fire early Sunday morning.
Maiden Street Subs, at 328 E. Maiden St., Washington, was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning.
Fire companies across the county stayed busy over the weekend with two building fires.
The first fire was called in at 12:17 a.m. Saturday at Maiden Street Subs, 328 E. Maiden St., Washington. Washington fire Chief Gerald Coleman said that while there were no injuries, the restaurant was mostly destroyed.
Coleman said city police arrived on the scene first to smoke coming from the roof.
“There was a lot of heat in that building,” Coleman said. “All of the departments that helped us that night did an amazing job containing the fire to the original fire building.”
The sub shop is in the middle of a building with multiple storefronts with active businesses. Since no one was inside the shop at the time, making sure the other businesses in the plaza weren’t damaged was a priority, Coleman said.
Both businesses on either side of the restaurant had “light to moderate” smoke damage, Coleman said. He said crews used tarps to cover computers in the neighboring Joe Fida’s Auto Plate Service.
“I don’t believe anybody else had water damage,” Coleman said.
The fire marshal was called to the scene and determined the fire to be accidental and undetermined. The restaurant was insured.
Coleman thanked the mutual aid companies that assisted, including North Strabane, Peters, South Strabane, Canton, North Franklin and Chartiers.
“We give help when we’re called, and it’s good to know that when we need help, we’re going to have good and professional help responding, too,” Coleman said. “That night it saved four or five other businesses.”
The next morning, some of those same departments responded to a second fire, called in at 3 a.m. for a home at 425 Quarry Road in South Strabane Township. Again, no injuries were reported, though the family was home when the fire began, according to township fire Chief Scott Reese.
“All four family members were home,” Reese said. “Luckily, everybody got out.”
The home is owned by Sheldon and Ruby Keeney, both 78 years old. They and their adult sons live in the home, which sits on an embankment. Reese said one of the sons, Richard Keeney, told him that he awoke to fire in his bedroom. He told Reese that he “felt the heat.”
“His bedroom was on fire,” Reese said. “He ran out yelling at everyone to get out.”
Reese said none of the family reported any injuries, though the street-level floor of the home was destroyed by fire. The family is staying with a relative in East Washington.
The state police fire marshal was called, but the cause is undetermined, Reese said. The bedroom where the fire started was too damaged and unsafe to further investigate, Reese said, as the floor and roof were gone.
“We spent almost three hours there,” Reese said, referring to the fire marshal and himself.
Reese said the lower floors also had extensive water damage. Assisting South Strabane were firefighters from North Strabane, Washington, Bentleyville, Canton, Lone Pine and Amwell, and EMS crews from Ambulance & Chair.