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Customer Loses Car in Fire at Auto Shop

COOLBAUGH TOWNSHIP — Imagine that you take your car to get repairs and leave it there overnight, only to have the shop burst into flames with your car sit...

COOLBAUGH TOWNSHIP -- Imagine that you take your car to get repairs and leave it there overnight, only to have the shop burst into flames with your car sitting in a bay.

That's exactly what happened to one customer over the weekend when a tire and auto place near Mount Pocono went up in flames.

George Bodden of Mount Pocono is one of many people who came by to check out the damage to Jack Williams Tire and Auto near Mount Pocono.

He says Saturday night, "I watched it burn".

But Bodden isn't talking about watching the shop go up in flames, with thick, black plumes of smoke towering over the area. Instead, he came by the shop today because, "My car is in one of the bays that went up in flames with the property."

Bodden's Chevy Equinox is still sitting in the first bay, under charred rubble from the fire over the weekend.

But for Bodden, seeing his car in that condition is frustrating and upsetting. That's because the car meant a little more than just a mode of transportation.

"It's the first car I'm paying off or almost have paid off. Sentimental reasons. It was nice because it was the nicest car I ever had," said Bodden.

Most of the customers who have their vehicles scheduled for repair in Mount Pocono are now coming here just outside of Stroudsburg at the Jack Williams Tire and Auto Center. However, if there are customers who can't make the 20 minute drive from Mount Pocono to outside Stroudsburg, Jack Williams is helping out.

The employees at Jack Williams are offering to drive customer cars from the Mount Pocono location to the Stroudsburg location and back, free of charge.

Mount Pocono customer Antonia Waterman says the drive doesn't bother her.

"I just pray that they get up and running soon. They deserve that. They are wonderful. People love them in Mount Pocono," said Waterman of Mount Pocono.

And as for the workers who are displaced, they're still working. Something they couldn't be more grateful for.

"You never expect anything like this but the best thing is the company is supporting us, getting us working,  not putting us on unemployment or anything like that," said Jason Denig, the manager in Mount Pocono.

A state police fire marshal is still investigating the cause of the fire that destroyed Jack Williams Tire and Auto Center near Mount Pocono.

Managers there are currently looking for a temporary facility to move to, then, they plan to rebuild.

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