SCRANTON, Pa. — A fire that ravaged a downtown Scranton office building Saturday morning remained under investigation while crews worked to extinguish the smoldering structure.
By late morning, the city fire department seemed to have the fire at 115-117 Franklin Ave. under control. They first arrived there around 8 a.m. to battle through thick smoke and terrible visibility.
No one was inside the building when the firefighters arrived. There were no reports of injuries Saturday morning.
The fire, crews soon learned, was “well progressed,” Fire Chief John Judge said.
Out of a concern for safety, crews pulled out of the building and started to attack the fire from the outside. Large ladder trucks dumped water from overtop the building.
"We won't know the cause for quite a while,” Judge said. “Our fire investigators are looking at pictures right now and some videos until they're actually able, if they're able, to get inside the building safely and look to see what the cause is but they're in the process of doing their investigation right now."
The smoke from the blaze coated the immediate area like a mist. It was visible from far away and drew crowds of onlookers.
Downtown resident Kristen LeFebvre said the sight of smoke and sound of fire engines sparked her curiosity.
“I was glad that the fire department was on top of it,” she said. “I was glad that its contained to one building…there were a lot of people out here who were just talking and making sure everyone was OK. So I was glad that from I’ve heard everyone is safe and that it’s contained to one area.”
The Franklin Avenue property is a two-story commercial building with a red brick exterior three feet thick.
For nearly 40 years, it housed the Pasqualichio Brothers meat business, according to Lackawanna County property records. In 2021, prominent downtown developer John Basalyga bought the place for $450,000.
Basalyga told Newswatch 16 that a law firm used part of the building as office space. He was in the process of renovating the rest of the property and planned to open new downtown apartments there.
What will happen next for the property is up in the air, but Basalyga was confident the building can be salvaged.
“It’s easy to rebuild a building,” he said. “It’s hard to save a life. So at the end of the day, everybody’s good, everybody’s safe, everybody gets to go home.”
Scranton got a helping hand from fire companies from Dickson City, South Abington Township, Dunmore, Moosic and the Tobyhanna Army Depot.
As of Sunday morning, Chief Judge says investigators have not yet been able to go inside the building due to its instability.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline.