Pocono News Section

Fire Devastates Landmark Car Business

Fire Devastates Landmark Car Business - Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 10:30PM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 @ 11:30pm EST
BLAKELY, LACKAWANNA COUNTY - A landmark Lackawanna County auto repair and car dealership is in ruins.

The fire broke out late Sunday afternoon in Blakely at Mustang Motors on Scott Road. The owner is left trying to determine what to do now with the business he built over several decades.

A man best known as Bondo Mike can't believe his business, Mustang Motors, went up in flames. Mike Lisowski had been working at his place just a short time earlier. "I was here. I went home about 4:00 and then about a half-hour till they called. I couldn't believe the place was burning the way it is," said Lisowski.

He's had this business since 1968 when it was just an auto body shop. That was just a few years before he began selling cars.

It's a business that just about everybody in the Mid Valley knows -- including the fire chief. "He's been a landmark here. He's done a lot of work here. He spent a lot of time in this facility right here," said Blakely Hose Company Fire Chief Tim Fanning.

Chief Fanning and responding firefighters had their hands full the moment they arrived on scene. "We had heavy fire in the back corner of the building. That's all that we know right now and then it busted out as we opened the doors," said Chief Fanning.

A fierce fire that gutted that garage and destroyed its contents. "He has about 5-cars lost inside the garage and all of his equipment is pretty much lost at this point," said Chief Fanning.

"I have insurance on the cars, but I dropped the insurance on the building," said Lisowski.

And now like all fire victims dealing with significant damage, Bondo Mike tries to figure out his next move. "Well, I'm thinking about knocking the garage down and just selling cars. I'll have more room for cars. I don't know what I'm going to do."
Firefighters on the scene didn't believe the fire is suspicious.

A state police fire marshal was expected to begin investigating first thing Monday morning.