A fire that destroyed an 114-year-old historic building at 22 Main St. in downtown Bradford late Wednesday has displaced 18 people from eight families who had lived in several apartments in the nextdoor building, officials reported Thursday.
Lt. Mike Campogiani of the Bradford City Fire Department said the cause of the fire or its point of origin at the Sun Set Bay Tanning Resort building at 22 Main St. could not be determined at present by State Police Fire Investigator Cpl. Greg Agosti. No estimate of damage for the building and business were available.
Campogiani noted that contrary to earlier reports, officials didn’t believe there were apartments located above the Sun Set business in the second floor of the building. Instead he believes the upper floor was used as storage. The building is owned by Denise French, who couldn’t be reached for comment.
Campogiani said believes the 18 residents displaced, as well as a woman and child who had gotten out safely, had been living in apartments in the second and third floors above the nextdoor building at 20 Main St. That building, which houses Eye Care Professional Associates on the ground floor, is owned by Dr. Dan Casament and was closed Thursday.
Campogiani said between 70 and 75 firemen from approximately 12 area fire departments were on the scene with four aerial trucks after the fire was reported shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday. Many remained on the scene until 6:57 a.m. Thursday. While there were no injuries, Campogiani said a cat had been found deceased in one of the apartments, while another was found alive. He said firefighters likely used between 6,000 and 8,000 gallons of water per minute. In addition, a city official reported that one of the town’s reservoirs was depleted of as much as two feet of water from the fire.
Campogiani said firefighters had a hard time fighting the blaze due to a dropped ceiling made of tin in the business. He said the tin made it hard for firemen to put out flames located between that ceiling and original ceiling above it.
“That’s where a lot of the fire was, which was between the second-floor ceiling and the roof,” Campogiani explained. He noted that when the ceiling eventually collapsed it was hard to put out the burning mass.
Firefighter and paramedic Chris Spaich said the department is grateful for the mutual support provided by the area fire departments as the incident could have been much worse.
“It could have been a block party (with the whole block of buildings inflamed), instead it was just the one building,” Spaich stated.
At the American Red Cross for the Greater Pennsylvania Region, Dan Tobin, director of marketing and communications, said the displaced individuals were provided vouchers to stay at hotels or other temporary lodging in the area. He said he is uncertain of the other needs of the displaced individuals, such as clothing.
“We don’t know where they’re actually staying, but we’ll work with them over the next couple of days,” Tobin said. “If there are needs that can’t be met by us, we’ll have case workers work with them to get them other resources.”
Realtor Kathy Obermeyer, whose company, ERA Team VP Real Estate has the former Atlantic Broadband building at 24 Main St. as one of its listings, said that property is currently being assessed for any damage that might have been incurred. Obermeyer, whose office is located across the street from the fire at 21 Main St., said she opened her office to the firemen to come in out of the cold and warm up.
“We didn’t leave there until just around 3 a.m.,” she remarked. “They were very appreciative of it.”
Vera Kohler, a representative of Eye Care Professionals, said Thursday that the business hadn’t sustained as much damage as they had feared. There was smoke and some water damage to some back rooms, she explained, but said an electrician was inspecting the building that afternoon. She is hopeful the business will reopen today or Monday.
The Grocery Stretcher, located on the same side of the street and down a few buildings, had remained closed Thursday, but will reopen today.
Co-owner Ben Gunter said the business was smoky, but there was no damage from smoke, water or fire.
(Era Assistant Managing Editor Marcie Schellhammer contributed to this report.)
