West Newton laments loss of two businesses to fire
Ryan Hunt had just closed up the West Newton Pizza House late Wednesday when he heard fire sirens whir past his nearby residence.
From his front door, he could see the bright light of flames shooting from Mousey's Auto Body, which abuts his downtown business on Second Street.
Hunt, the fourth-generation of his family to own the pizza shop, on Thursday looked over the extensive fire and water damage to the business. His grandmother and great-grandmother opened the shop in 1957 and, in keeping with tradition, neither their sauce recipe nor location have changed in the 60 years since, Hunt said.
A fire marshal is investigating how a massive blaze started in the auto body shop, destroying it and the pizza shop.
A PNC Bank office on Main Street still had no power Thursday afternoon, an official there said, and some neighboring buildings lost cable service. The heat of the fire destroyed two transformers.
The fire destroyed the front of Mousey's Auto Body, another longtime borough business, and spread to the pizzeria.
“I grew up next to the Pizza House so this makes me so sad, personally,” Mayor Mary Popovich said. “I'm just so sad because we don't want to see any businesses lost. This is a big loss for our community.”
West Newton Fire Chief Craig Sanner said a police officer reported the fire in the South Third Street auto shop shortly before 10:45 p.m., and by the time firefighters arrived, flames were shooting through the roof and were spreading quickly.
“The fire was completely through the roof and flames were lapping across the alley up under the eaves of the Pizza House,” he said.
Capt. Dustin Sanner said the toughest part was “just trying to get enough water on it initially” because of the heavy flames. He is the chief's son.
No one was in either building at the time of the fire, but the auto shop had several vehicles inside with gas in their tanks, Craig Sanner said. The building was reduced to rubble. No one was injured.
Neighbor Diane Konopka said she came out of her house to see flames shooting high above the body shop, which stretches the whole block between Second and Third streets.
“I thought there was shooting going on outside; there was all this ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,' ” she said. “(The owner) re-did the whole front of the building, made a beautiful office there — all gone.”
Firefighters spent about an hour bringing the flames under control and had it out by about 12:15 a.m. Thursday.
It gutted the second floor and caused major smoke and water damage to the ground floor of the Pizza House.
Hunt said the business eventually will reopen, but it's too soon to say whether it will be in the same location.
“We'll reopen somehow,” he said. “We'll find out soon.”
Rainey Craig, 67, and her husband, Dave, live a few doors down from the pizza shop. Craig said she was heartbroken by the damage.
She and other neighbors are close with the Hunt family and plan to help them in any way they can, she said.
“It's not just a small town,” Craig said. “It's a family.”
It's the second fire in the last two months to devastate the small borough's downtown area. Demarchi's Tavern on Main Street was damaged in an April 9 fire. A community mainstay, the tavern previously had been the Chestnut Inn before being purchased by the Demarchi family. That building is still standing.
“We've had three business burned in the last couple months,” Dustin Sanner said. “You never expect that in a small town.”
Staff writer Renatta Signorini contributed.
Matthew Santoni and Matthew Guerry are Tribune-Review staff writers. Reach Santoni at 24-836-6660 or msantoni@tribweb.com. Reach Guerry at 724-850-2122, mguerry@tribweb.com, or via Twitter at @MattGuerry.
