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Four Businesses Destroyed in Pike Co. Fire

Four Businesses Destroyed in Pike Co. Fire - Monday, April 21, 2008 at 6:12PM EST

Monday, Apr 21, 2008 @ 06:12pm EST
PALMYRA TWP., PIKE COUNTY- Fire investigators are looking into what caused a fire that destroyed four businesses in Pike County . It happened on Route 6 in Palmyra Township just outside of Hamlin.

Firefighters were still putting out hot spots in this fire late Monday afternoon. But there's not much left of a building that thousands of people used. Fire ripped through a building that houses 4 businesses.

It started at about 1:00 Monday morning. Betsy Castellano, owner of Health Foods says, "It's one of your worst nightmares. And we kept, on the ride down, thinking maybe we're going to wake up and we're just dreaming."

Betsy and husband Domenick Castellano own Health Foods. Their business, along with Pocono Mountain Lodging, Paupack Insurance, and Lakeside Family Vision burned to the ground.

Firefighters say it took nearly 6 hours and 8 fire companies to get the blaze under control. Rich Groo of the Tafton Fire Company says, "It's pretty big for us. You know, 8 companies is pretty big for anybody. So for us it was pretty big. You know, we’re all volunteer companies up here."

The business that served the most customers here, by far, is Lakeside Family Vision. Dr. Michael Neal says his office sees thousands of patients. He plans to bounce back quickly. "Nobody was hurts so we're happy about that. Already the outpouring of support from the community has been fantastic. We do want our patients to know that we're getting stuff on order," says Neal.

Other businesses here hoping to follow Dr. Neal's lead. The big concern for Paupack Insurance was saving dozens of folders with people's confidential information on it. Paupack workers were rolling whatever they could salvage into a big trailer. They said they were able to save some records.

Meanwhile, State Police Fire Marshals stayed on the scene all afternoon, sifting through what's left of this strip mall.

Lakeside Family Vision and Health Food ownership say they plan on moving into a neighboring building. Health Food was only open about 4 months before this fire.
 


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