One of the historic buildings lining Bradford’s Main Street went up in flames Wednesday night, but early reports indicated there were no injuries.
Bradford City Fire Department was dispatched shortly after 8 p.m. to 22 Main St., which houses Sun Set Bay Tanning Resort on the first floor, and apartments on the second and third floors. Within minutes, more departments were called as thick, acrid smoke blanketed the downtown.
“When the firemen arrived, there were people coming out of the back” of the upstairs apartments in the buildings at 22 and 20 Main St., explained Sgt. Todd Erickson, fire investigator with the Bradford City Police. The firefighters assisted them out and made sure everyone had been evacuated.
Erickson said it appeared the fire may have begun in the second floor at 22 Main St.
“I can’t say right now, but the second floor is where all the smoke and the flames were coming out,” he explained, standing in the middle of a closed off Main Street, in a stream of dirty water washing out of the buildings as the firemen battled the blaze.
“The flames themselves were in the middle of the building and the smoke was coming out the front and the back,” he explained.
Gesturing up past the aerial ladders from two fire departments staged at the front of the building, to the building’s interior, Erickson said, “What you are seeing there isn’t the ceiling. That’s the concrete floor of the third story. That hampers these guys doing their job because the fire gets trapped in between there and the false ceiling.”
It’s the same in many of the old buildings downtown, he explained.
He commented on how well the departments in the region work together, saying those on scene included Bradford City, Bradford Township, Derrick City, Corydon Township, Lewis Run, Kane and, from New York, Salamanca and Olean.
“There are four towers here,” he said, explaining that in addition to Bradford City’s, Kane, Olean and Salamanca all had aerial trucks at the scene.
“And all the other departments have moved equipment in case there was another fire,” Erickson said.
Corydon, Otto and Lafayette townships and Rew all were called for transfer or stand-by assignments. Apparatus was staging on South Avenue.
One investigator at the scene said late Wednesday that firemen hadn’t gone into the Eye Care Professional Associates business at 20 Main St. yet to determine the state of the building, but heavy smoke was visible through the front windows of the business, as was water from the firefighting efforts. A firefighter on scene said no fire had spread to the building at 20 Main St.
While no injuries were reported by firefighters, early reports from the fire indicated a woman and young child may have been examined by an ambulance crew at the scene.
Earlier in the evening, the owner of the building at 22 Main St., believed to be Denise French, was near the burning structure, but was too distraught to speak with the Era.
Others near the scene included Jonah Gunter, co-owner of the Grocery Stretcher store, located in the same historic block and just a few buildings down from the burning structure. Gunter stood in front of his business and watched as firefighters worked on putting the blaze out. He said he was uncertain if he would try to remove any valuables from his business.
“Hopefully they’ll get it under control,” Gunter said while looking in the direction of the fire. “It doesn’t look like it’s moving over any” from 22 Main St.
Others watching the fire included Karla Applegate, who lives in a third-floor apartment above Eye Care Professional Associates. Applegate was wrapped in a blanket given to her by the Destinations-Bradford ministry as she stood and watched firefighters trying to quell the fire in the building next to hers.
“We started smelling smoke and the alarms went off,” Applegate said. “Everybody came out (of adjacent apartments) and went downstairs to see if any of the downstairs apartments” were burning food.
Applegate said a police officer then came to her apartment and told her to get out immediately, leaving her no time to grab a coat. She was able to rescue one of her cats and grab a carry case for it, but she couldn’t find the other cat.
“He should be OK, he’s probably in the closet,” Applegate said of her cat that couldn’t be found.
Her downstairs neighbor, Donna Dallary, said she was at work at the Bradford Family YMCA when she heard the building next to her apartment building was on fire. She, too, had a cat in the apartment which she couldn’t rescue.
The women believe there are four apartments on the third floor and five apartments on the second floor of their building, and all were occupied.
Sally Costik, curator with Bradford Landmark Society, said the building was constructed in 1905 after the first structure had burned to the ground on Christmas of 1904.
Costik said the current building was constructed by Issac Cohn, who used it for his dry goods store.
She said the ornate brick building has housed a number of businesses in the past 114 years.
“The Healy Studio was there in 1928 and their motto was ‘Photos live forever,’” she stated. “Costello Insurance was there in 1935 with P.E. Costello and his son.”
She said the building also housed Offenbach barbershop in 1946 over Smith Art Shop, which was located in the structure until the 1970s. It was uncertain how long the current business has been housed in the building.
Costik said the structure, and adjacent buildings, are considered 20th century construction.
“It is considered a contributing building in the historic district because of the way it is built — not every building is,” she said of the burned building.
