Blaze damages vacant home near W-B fire headquarters

WILKES-BARRE – City firefighters made quick work of a blaze in a vacant home just yards away from city fire headquarters on East Ross Street.

Firemen saw flames coming through the roof of a two-story home at 68 Gildersleeve St. from the second floor of the firehouse just before 9:30 p.m., called it in to Luzerne County 911 and brought a fire engine out of the garage and around the corner, said Assistant Fire Chief Ed Snarski.

Gildersleeve Street is an alleyway adjacent to the firehouse.

"The fire was pretty much contained to an upstairs back room and the (firefighters with) the first engine knocked down all the fire," Snarski said.

Snarski said firefighters conducted preliminary and secondary searches of the house and found no one inside.

The home is owned by the Greek Orthodox Church on East Ross Street and was scheduled for demolition. A fire inspector will try to determine the cause, he said.

"We did see people running out of the alleyway, but we don't know if they were running to tell us about the fire or if they saw what happened. It was three males and they disappeared," Snarski said. "It's a pretty popular alleyway. It seems there's always someone using it."

No one was home in the house next door to the vacant structure, and it doesn't appear that home, which is only several feet away from the vacant house, was damaged, he said.