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The Whitehall Volunteer Fire Co. was among nearly two dozen local fire departments that responded to a fire that destroyed two buildings on Main Street in Granville early Monday morning.
Granville firefighters responded to a report of a Dumpster fire at 3:50 a.m. Upon arrival, however, it was determined the blaze was actually a working structure fire involving two buildings: All in One Exchange pawn shop and the old L.E. Roberts jewelry store, originally the Washington County National Bank, which was being used as an art studio and gallery.
The people who lived in an apartment above the pawn shop were able to escape unharmed but both buildings were completely destroyed by the fire and were demolished Monday afternoon. Crews spent all day Tuesday clearing the debris.
Granville Fire Chief Ryan Pedone said he believes the cause of the fire was electrical in nature. Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading next door to Scotties gift and coffee shop.
Granville firefighters were unable to generate enough water from their own pumps to battle the blaze and around 20 neighboring fire departments were called into assist.
The Whitehall department responded around 4:30 a.m. and used its ladder truck to provide a “master stream” to help extinguish the fire.
“It was a phenomenal job by all the departments involved,” Pedone said.
The fire capped a busy six-day period for the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Co.
On Nov. 7, the company spent more than two hours extinguishing a chimney fire on Boardman Street.
President Brian Brooks said the chimney flue had the equivalent of four large garbage cans of creosote in it.
The company also responded to a report of a porch fire on Seventh Avenue around 3:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon but was able to extinguish the blaze before any damage was done.
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