JESSUP, Pa. — Investigators are trying to figure out what led to an early morning blaze in Lackawanna County.
People who live on Church Street in Jessup gathered in the street after the former Library Pizza caught fire around 3:30 a.m. Friday.
"I was sleeping in the living room, and I didn't smell or hear anything until my sister came downstairs and told me the building was on fire," Haily Serpico said. "It was really high up in the sky. It was a lot, just crazy."
A neighbor across the street tells Newswatch 16 he was still awake when flames broke out.
"I had a smoke, and I could hear crackling and crunching from over there, and I'm like, 'What is that? I've never heard such a thing.' Then I heard the glass burst, that was about 3:39, so then I called 911"
Investigators say the fire started on the second floor. Flames shot from the roof when it caved in.
Neighbors watched as firefighters attacked from all sides, thinking about what this building once meant to people in Jessup
"The Library, as it's known, used to be a furniture store and a hardware store, then it became a bar and pizza place. It was a landmark in the area. Everybody knew The Library; that's where you went for pizza on a Friday night," George Howanitz said.
Now, it has to be torn down.
"The building has actually been abandoned for quite a while, so there was nobody living in it or no active business," said Jessup Hose Co. #2 Fire Chief Jim Anderson.
No one was hurt. A state police fire marshal is looking for the cause.
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