Posted 12:48 pm, August 28, 2015, by Stacy Lange
SCRANTON, PA
A tire warehouse in Scranton, destroyed by a massive fire, is coming down.
Fire crews in Scranton have been on the scene of that fire at Sandone Tire’s warehouse along Wyoming Avenue since Wednesday evening.
Now that building which housed more than 50,000 tires is being torn down.
It’s day two of demolition at the Sandone Tire warehouse on Wyoming Avenue and Friday morning crews knocked down one of the remaining towers of the warehouse.
Hoses have been pointed at Sandone Tire’s warehouse since Wednesday evening.
As crews arrived for day three of firefighting, it was the demolition crews with the hoses, the water pressure knocking out loose bricks on the front wall.
Then, an excavator gave a simple tap and one of the remaining towers and most of that front wall came crashing down followed by a cloud of dust.
Kept at a safe distance, many people were around to watch.
John Young followed the cloud of smoke all the way from south Scranton.
“Four blocks up you can still see debris. It’s all over the place. One of my friends is actually down by the jail and they’re saying there’s debris all the way down there. It’s unbelievable,” Young said.
The rest of the demolition won’t be as simple.
“It could be a couple more days before everything is brought down to a safe level and we can get everybody fully restored in that area and the businesses back open and things like that. Our presence here could be another week, we don’t know, we will just have to see how the demolition process goes,” said Scranton Assistant Fire Chief Jim Floryshak.
When that front wall came crashing down, it took a lot of the building with it, but demo crews say it will still take days to take down the rest of the building, and weeks to clean it all up.
In the meantime, the business that used to be here is already back up and running.
Sandone employees were able to get computers out of the retail storefront. The company’s owners watched the demolition feeling more confident than they did a few days ago.
“A lot of stuff is business as usual, the exception is the inventory, which we don’t have and we lost the majority, a great majority, of our inventory,” said owner Mike Sandone.
Some 50,000 tires burned in the fire.
Other businesses are still seeing the consequences.
Cooper’s Seafood House was forced to close for a second day. Folks who live near Sandone are getting sick of the smell, but they also know what was prevented here.
“I give Scranton fire department, two thumbs up, five stars, definitely,” said Scranton resident George Layton.
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Sunday, August 30, 2015
Deep inside the smoky and pitch-black third floor Of the Sandone Tire warehouse on Wyoming Avenue in Scanton (PA), shortly before the smoldering building would become a fireball that would shine like a torch Wednesday night, Scranton firefighter Lt. Kelly Hopkins and three others ran dangerously low on air.
They were lost.
Visibility was zero. Stacks of tires, soon to ignite and continue to smolder through Friday night, flanked them. Their hose line, which firefighters are trained to follow out when they can’t see, was wrapped and tangled around the tires. The four firefighters were disoriented and lost more air with each breath they took. Lt. Hopkins, a well-respected 29-year veteran with the city fire department, called “mayday” at 7:16 p.m.
“The hairs on the back of our necks went up,” Scranton Fire Chauffeur James Rivers said. “He’s been through everything. You know when he calls a mayday it’s serious.”
Mr. Rivers, the first firefighter in the building to rescue the four, recounted the experience Friday while still working to extinguish the fire.
On Friday, demolition crews worked to tear down the still smoking ruin to extinguish the blaze, fueled by 35,000 to 50,000 burning tires.
All four firefighters escaped from the building with Mr. Rivers’ help. Lt. Hopkins, 55, was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center for observation. He was treated and released, said hospital spokeswoman Westyn Hinchey.
Scranton Fire Chief Patrick DeSarno lauded Mr. Rivers’ actions on Friday. He said the 37-year-old is a “great firefighter” on a team of great firefighters.
“I would say (Mr. Rivers) averted tragedy,” Chief DeSarno said.
Mr. Rivers said he heard the mayday and entered the building. He couldn’t see either. He felt his way up to the third floor by following the hose line up a fire escape.
He moved slowly. He called out. They heard him and called back.
“We had no clue if there were holes in the floors,” he said. “They had chutes in there that they used to shoot the tires down in and that was close to the door we entered into. So obviously, you had to sound the floors as you’re going in to make sure there are no holes.”
That slowed his movement. Mr. Rivers didn’t know what he would find when he reached them. His adrenaline surged. He wanted to move faster, get there now, but had to keep calm.
“Just like they had to keep calm,” Mr. Rivers said.
Mr. Rivers, who has been with the fire department for 12 years, found the firefighters unharmed 50 to 60 feet from the door. He did a head count. Four there.
“Disoriented,” Mr. Rivers said, describing them. “Obviously scared because they had no clue where they were in the building. They knew if they ran out of oxygen they were in deep trouble.”
Lt. Hopkins was out of air. Another firefighter had five or six minutes left, Mr. Rivers said.
“As soon as they saw me they were happy,” Mr. Rivers said. “They were excited to hear a firefighter’s voice.”
Carefully, he led them out. Fresher air greeted them. EMTs loaded Lt. Hopkins onto a stretcher. Chief DeSarno came up and embraced the veteran firefighter.
They were safe, but the night was young. Demolishing the building and extinguishing the fire may take days. Firefighters will continue to maintain a presence until then, officials said.
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