MIDDLE SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP -- A fire wiped out a movie theater and shopping center near East Stroudsburg.
Firefighters were called to the Poconos Movieplex around 7:30 Sunday night. A fast-moving fire destroyed the place.
Flames were seen shooting from the complex that housed theaters, plus a book store, antique store, and a fireworks store.
The place was open at the time. The building was evacuated, and no movie-goers were hurt.
Firefighters were confronted with a huge building with movie theaters and shopping space inside a mass of flames.
Wonderwoman and Spiderman couldn't save the building. The memories remain, for people like Diann Krause, who came to see the damage, while the building was still smoking.
"It's pretty devastating. This place, when we moved here 26 years ago was a beautiful place."
This used to be Foxmoor Cinemas. The name changed to Poconos Movieplex 7 after a sale.
The building was laid out with movie theaters and flea market space, and now it's all gone.
Jim McCully was a vendor there. He sold soap, t-shirts, and window decals.
"We'll get our stuff out of here. If the flea market opens again, maybe we'll move with it," he said.
McCully says this was a good place to do business, picking up extra money to go along with his retirement income.
McCully wasn't the only one here. Others stopped by to remember better times.
"It's a nice place to go other than a mall or something like that. It's a nice Saturday or Sunday outing," said Tony Herda of Marshalls Creek.
The fire chief said this fire had its share of challenges including fireworks inside a fireworks store going off as they battled the flames. No one was hurt.
The building is apparently a total loss, leaving a big hole in this part of Monroe County.
"Now, you don't have the theater because they had eight screens, you can watch anything on," said Kevin Hulett of East Stroudsburg.
This is not the first time firefighters have been here at the complex that used to be known as Foxmoor Village Mall.
“They had a fire here back in 1992,” added Hulett. “The concession stand at the theater burned up, so this isn't the first time they had a fire here.”
That fire was ruled an accident. A 2009 fire that destroyed a furniture store here was called a case of arson.
There is no cause listed yet for this latest fire that wiped out Pocono Square.
