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Northumberland County Prison Fire: One Year Later

SUNBURY–January 14, 2015 started out as an ordinary day, but that afternoon the 140-year-old prison on North Second Street in Sunbury went up in flames. &...

SUNBURY--January 14, 2015 started out as an ordinary day, but that afternoon the 140-year-old prison on North Second Street in Sunbury went up in flames.

"It was kind of surreal, very hard to believe that it was actually burning and burning the way it was," Sheriff Robert Wolfe said.

"I pulled up and saw the beginnings of the fire. At that point, there was a lot of smoke coming out of the turret. I don't think I left the scene until late that night," Commissioner Rick Shoch said.

"I remember seeing the smoke out my window. I remember hearing the cracking," Tina Boyer said.

Inmates were led out two by two into a church across the street.

"It was a big effort to get everyone out of there at the time," Shoch said.

In the months after the fire, Northumberland County Commissioners tried to figure out where to build a new county prison. Steve Bridy was a commissioner at the time and took members of the media on a tour of the former prison, which many people wanted to save.

"It has a character and stuff and it's a shame that they don't want to fix it," Manuel Santiago said.

Since the fire, the inmates were taken to prisons in other counties and in Coal Township. The sheriff says that makes it much harder than when the prison was one block away.

"It's a logistical nightmare. Every day is a new challenge to find out where someone is, how are we going to get them here to court? How are we going to take them back if we have to?" Wolfe asked.

Commissioners say it costs more than $500,000 each month to house inmates at other facilities. When the prison was in Sunbury it cost around $350,000 a month.

"It's been a burden on our budget because that all costs money," Shoch said.

Last month, ground was broken for a new prison at the former Celotex site in Sunbury. But the current board of county commissioners says it may instead consider a different site for the prison.

Sheriff Wolfe says he hopes a decision is made soon.

"Get a prison built as soon as we can and get our people in there. Like today if I can," Wolfe said.

As for the former prison, the Northumberland County Authority is looking to sell the building. Until then, it sits vacant on North Second Street in Sunbury.

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