Fire at Former Fire Walnutport (PA) Fire Station

A former fire station, now a social hall, is in danger of collapse due to a fire Sunday afternoon.

The fire is at the social hall at 209 Washington St. for the Diamond Fire Station in Walnutport, according to Walnutport Fire Chief John Kirchner.

The fire broke out some time after noon Sunday. It started on the Main Street side of the building between the second and third floors, Kirchner said.

“The wind just took the fire and raced it through the entire roof,” he said. He said a vent on the third floor funneled the north-to-south wind into the fire and sent it to the roof.

The cause of the four-alarm fire remains under investigation. It was brought under control within an hour by at least a dozen firefighters spanning departments in Northampton, Lehigh and Carbon Counties.

Kirchner said the roof is in danger of collapsing. Frefighters were taking all precautions they could in the event the roof caves in. Built in 1896, the hall was the borough’s original fire station before it was converted to a social hall, Kirchner said.

A police officer at the scene said the building was evacuated and two people — a man and woman — were removed. Kirchner said he wasn’t aware of anyone being in the building, although the business manager could have been inside.

Ursula Loch of Slatington, a bartender at the social hall, said she was getting out of her car to attend a train show at an adjacent hall when she saw smoke.

For more information, view www.lehighvalleylive.com

 

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