Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

Local News

Related Photos

  • Danny Lusk, owner of Empire Salvage & Demolition works to tear down the structure on Mercer Street in Princeton Wednesday evening. Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

    Scorched...

  • An early morning fire at a vacant Princeton building. The building was demolished late Wednesday evening. Photo courtesy of James Terry

    On fire...

Discussion

July 26, 2012

Vacant building burns: Princeton structure destroyed by blaze

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — Apartments were evacuated and a street was blocked off Wednesday morning after fire destroyed a vacant Mercer Street building.

The fire at 823 Mercer Street was reported at 5:45 a.m., said Lt. Sean Wyatt of the Princeton Fire Department. Flames were showing from the brick building’s second-story windows when firefighters arrived on the scene three minutes later.

“We went ahead and did what we call a defensive attack,” Wyatt said at Mercer Street. “We didn’t put anybody in (the building) due to the condition of the structure.”

Members of the East River and Green Valley-Glenwood volunteer fire departments assisted with the fire fighting, Wyatt said.

Residents of the adjoining buildings watched from across the street and waited to see if they could return home as firefighters got the blaze under control. Crews had been in both buildings to see if the fire had damaged them.

“There’s been no fire extension into either building,” Wyatt said. “There is a smell of smoke in each of them, but we have not found any water damage as of yet.”

Zach Atha, 25, and other residents were still asleep when firefighters arrived. Tenants were alerted “when they beat that door down. We heard that. They woke us up and got us out of there. They’ve got to tear that building down. It’s going to be a day, maybe two days, before we can get back in,” Atha said.

Residents were allowed to collect some clothes and other belongings before they departed. Mike Shupe, 51, a support manager at the Walmart near Princeton, said he came home 7:30 a.m. after his shift to learn there was a fire next door to his home.

“They want us to grab a couple of days worth of stuff just in case anything happens,” he said as firefighters kept hosing down the smoldering building.

Shupe’s neighbor, 82-year-old Robert Hager, said he was awake and making his morning coffee when the fire trucks came to Mercer Street.

“I had made my bed and made my coffee,” he said. “Somebody hollered at me to come out.”

“The building has been under condemnation for some time,” said Bill Buzzo, Jr., code enforcement director for the city of Princeton. “We’ve been litigating and working with the property owner through his attorney to issue a building permit. That’s been the hold up.”

The owner has wanted to renovate the building, but a building permit cannot be issued until the city receives blueprints outlining the plan and other details, Buzzo said.

The West Virginia State Fire Marshal was investigating the fire Wednesday afternoon. A contractor, Empire Salvage & Recycling, Inc., had been retained to demolish the structure for safety reasons once investigators finished their work, Buzzo said.

The Bluestone Valley, Athens and Matoaka volunteer fire departments covered the East River Volunteer Fire Department’s territory while the Mercer Street fire was being fought, Wyatt said.

The body of a Princeton resident, Angela Lynne McKinney Cook, 35, was found at the building Jan. 19. The investigation is continuing. As of Wednesday, there was no connection between the fire and the murder of Cook, Lt. J.W. Howell of the Princeton Police Department said.

Text Only
Local News
National and World

Newspaper Deivery Routes Available
Sister Newspapers' News

Facebook
Local News Videos