Jeannette will foot bill for 'suspicious' fire at abandoned brewery

Jeannette taxpayers are in a familiar situation, thanks to a suspicious fire.

Once again, they likely will be tapped to rectify a fire-damaged commercial building in the city that was owned by late businessman Frank Trigona.

It happened in April 2016 when an abandoned three-story building on Clay Avenue collapsed, forcing the city to foot the bill for a costly emergency demolition. And it happened again Monday night when a portion of the former Fort Pitt Brewery on Penn Avenue went up in flames, resulting in a partial collapse and water main break that flooded several homes. The property's safety issues will come before the city's health board on Monday.

"Any building that's abandoned .... any kind of structure can be easily accessed if they're not secured properly," said Mayor Richard Jacobelli. "You have these all over Western Pennsylvania that are prey to these people."

Fire Chief Vance Phillips on Tuesday ruled the brewery fire suspicious. The specific cause and origin is under investigation by a state police fire marshal. Police interviewed several witnesses Monday night and "obtained a number of leads," Phillips said.

"The buildings have been abandoned for a long time," he said. "There are no utilities to the building."

"This is deja vu for ... Clay Avenue again," he said.

The fire was spotted around 9:20 p.m. Monday by police Officer Tom Yaniszeski, who was on patrol, Phillips said.

It was "fully involved through the roof and out the side" of the single-story brick building the size of a football field, he said. The heat caused steel support beams to twist and the roof to collapse, he said. That helped firefighters use four ladder trucks to attack the flames from above and prevent the blaze from spreading into the tall buildings closer to the small West Jeannette neighborhood.

"I think the collapse was a blessing," Phillips said.

Most of the flames were extinguished by 11 p.m., but firefighters returned throughout the night to quell a "molten, melted ball of computer parts," he said. The buildings were used for storage.

"That's definitely the hottest part of the fire," Phillips said. "It took a lot of work after the fire was out to prevent that from reigniting on its own."

Jeannette brewery fire

Firefighters douse blaze in vacant Jeannette commercial building.

While firefighters worked, a water main break on Penn Avenue sent water rushing along the sidewalk and into nearby basements, according to residents. There were three breaks that Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials believe were caused by stress on the system because of "high demand from fighting the fire," said spokesman Matt Junker.

Angela Clark's freshly washed laundry in the basement was soaked by the water. The washer and dryer she purchased in March might be ruined.

"There was nothing I could do," she said. "This is just a disaster."

Neighbor Chris Ott sat on his porch Tuesday morning while one of three municipal authority crews worked a few feet away to repair a break. Two other crews made repairs elsewhere in the city.

"It's just scary — it's too close," Ott said.

Neighbor Lola Barton said the abandoned building has attracted curious children as well as rodents that eat her garden flowers and vegetables.

"It's been a concern for years," she said. "It should be properly taken down before somebody gets seriously hurt."

The city health board could do just that.

The board may request an inspection of the 4.6-acre property and the buildings at Monday's meeting, Nestico said.

That will be the first step to deciding if the fire damage can be repaired or if demolition is the right direction, he said. Either way, it will cost the city. The inspection alone will cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

Council authorized setting aside $500,000 for such projects from the city's reserve account, created with $4 million in proceeds from the February 2015 sale of the city's sewer system to the county municipal authority.

"So, again, it falls on the taxpayers to absorb the financial cost," Nestico said. "If the city wants to have it demolished, the city's going to pay to have it demolished."

Fallout from the April 2016 fire at the corner of Clay Avenue and Fifth Street has cost the city about $277,000 — $90,000 for emergency demolition costs in the immediate aftermath and a current $187,000 contract for demolition and cleanup work of the asbestos-contaminated bricks and other material. The cause of the fire could not be determined.

The city acquired the lot in January from the county's repository for delinquent taxes, and the adjoining building was donated to Jeannette along with $7,000 in insurance proceeds.

"People walk away, and it becomes everybody else's problem," Nestico said.

Trigona died in August 2015 and left 20 vacant properties in the city. A year ago, he owed $471,000 in delinquent property taxes on the parcels. The former brewery property — the largest held by Trigona's estate — has been on the city's radar for months because of the potential risk for residents and emergency responders, as well as the potential for economic growth, Nestico said.

It neighbors the Jeannette Industrial Park and the former Jeannette Glass site, which is in the county's control for a redevelopment project.

In the meantime, officials know the fire will draw attention to the abandoned brewery.

"It would be impossible at this point to secure it," Phillips said.

Renatta Signorini and Jeff Himler are Tribune-Review staff writers. Reach Signorini at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@tribweb.com or via Twitter @byrenatta. Reach Himler at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.