Firemen Battle Two Thursday Morning Fires

WOOLRICH/FLEMINGTON – Firemen from the greater Lock Haven area were called out not once but twice Thursday morning as separate fires caused considerable damage, first to the former Mangy Moose building near Woolrich and, later, Arby’s on High Street in Flemington.

The first alarm was sounded at 3:44 a.m. Thursday for a concrete block building fire at 10 Harley Drive, near its intersection with Park Avenue leading into Woolrich. The building contained an apartment occupied by Beth Richards and a garage used by the building owner, Rocky Snyder.

State police fire marshal Nick Loffredo said that blaze originated on the building’s back porch and his preliminary finding was it was electrical in nature. The fire marshal estimated damage at $80,000. Richards was rousted from sleep by the fire and with family members was going through salvaged residential contents in the aftermath of the blaze.

The fire was the third at the Harley Drive building. Most recently, in 2003, what was then a tavern, the Mangy Moose, was gutted in a winter-time fire.

Flemington firemen were then returning to quarters at 6:30 Thursday morning when they drove by the Arby’s building along High Street in Flemington and saw flames. Building and business owner Denise Boone said flame damage was confined to the building’s rear, northwest corner but there was water damage through much of the business. Both Arby’s and building tenant Pizza Hut are temporarily closed. The fire marshal was to visit the site after completing his work at the Harley Drive structure.

There were no injuries in either fire. Multiple companies from the Woolrich/Lock Haven area responded to the fires.