MORGANTOWN — Firefighters spent several hours on Tuesday fighting a fire in an empty apartment building in Morgantown’s Greenmont neighborhood.
Morgantown Fire Department responded to 201 Overdale St,, on the corner of Brockway Avenue, at 12:31 p.m.
Riley Kazariar, 19, and Timothy White, 22, were on their way to a job when they saw the smoke and flames, Kazariar said. Both men work for Rexroad Heating & Cooling.
Kazariar said as a former volunteer firefighter in Bruceton Mills, he knew how quickly old buildings could go up.
About 30 minutes after the fire was reported, flames started licking out of two windows on the second story of the building.
MFD Chief Mark Caravasos said he decided early to pull his men from the structure and fight the fire defensively. He said conditions were too dangerous inside to continue to try to fight from inside.
“Find cover,” Caravasos said. “Everything will get wet, including us.”
Firefighters blasted the building with water from three sides, using multiple hoses. Caravasos said about 3,000 gallons of water a minute were being used. The building was continually sprayed for about 45 minutes.
The temperature was 24 degrees and ice formed on firefighters’ uniforms and on surrounding sidewalks. Morgantown Public Works was on scene to put out salt so the firefighters didn’t slip.
About 1:50 p.m., Caravasos said the fire was largely under control but the department would need to stick around for several hours to continue spraying as needed, monitor for hotspots and look for hidden pockets of flame.
MECCA911 brought a drone with a thermal camera to look for hotspots so firefighters could direct the water for maximum effect.
Herold Berthy, owner, said the building, built before 1920, had been empty for years, but for the past year he’d been working to restore it. He said the building was uninsured.
Morgantown Police Department also responded to control traffic and Mon Health EMS responded with an ambulance on standby — standard procedure for fires.
Caravasos said the cause of the fire is unknown and will be investigated. He said the building was “severely damaged.”
