Pocono News Section

Fire Destroys 4-Story Scranton Building

Fire Destroys 4-Story Scranton Building - Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:25PM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Wednesday, Aug 19, 2009 @ 06:25pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY- Flames broke out in the four-story building that housed the Community Bake Shop just after 1:00 A. M. Wednesday. The building was located at the corner of Lackawanna and Wyoming Avenues, just across from the Steamtown Mall.

Smoke continued to pour from the four-story building more than 12 hours after the fire started.

A contractor is now demolishing the building. It’s just too unstable after the roof came crashing down. The blaze was extremely intense. The good news is no one was hurt in the fire.

As for a cause that is still under investigation. City leaders say that may become more evident as the demolition gets underway. Public Safety Director Ray Hayes said, “While the demolition is going on, the fire inspector and the fire marshal will be working with people from the demolition company to determine an origin and cause of the fire."

Early Wednesday morning fire poured from the Lackawanna Avenue building that houses Community Bake Shop and Cafe and The Wedding Center.

Dozens of firefighters -- including some on aerial ladder trucks -- douse the burning building. They were called out around 1:00 A. M. for a report of smoke in the rear of the business. You could see that smoke for some distance.

"We were actually up on Moosic Street and saw from the overlook and saw the smoke and was kind of interested to see what all the smoke was about," said Tyler Bator.

Several curious people gathered in the downtown for a look. Bator took to the roof of the Mall at Steamtown garage for a birds-eye view. "You could see the flames pretty good from up there and you could actually feel how hot the flames were," he said.

When firefighters realized they couldn't save the landmark building, they went into defense mode. That means they tried to prevent the massive fire from spreading to other downtown businesses.

Scranton Fire Chief Tom Davis said, "That was our main goal to protect everything else. This building was a total loss upon arrival."

"It was scary for a little bit there. I was worried myself that other buildings might catch on fire," added Bator.

Members of the Pollack family huddled together, too distraught to talk at first about their family-owned business that's been around for nearly 60 years

Diane Puhalla's late father-in-law worked at community bake shop for more than 50 years. "It's very sad. I just called my mother-in-law to wake her up. But she's a mess about it," she said.

And so are so many who were familiar with the landmark bakery. Bill Adams from Mayfield said, "I know it was a good business and I've been in there a few times and it's been here forever."