Fire destroys Emlenton Mill
EMLENTON, Venango County — A place of history and heritage, the Emlenton Mill burned to the ground in a massive fire that started Thursday night and lasted until daybreak.
The blaze ripped through the more than 140-year-old mill, destroying the four-story building and a machine shop and badly damaging a dress shop in the complex in the heart of Main Street.
Four nearby homes also sustained minor to moderate damage in the fire. No injuries were reported.
“It's a big loss to the community because it was such a borough landmark,” said Barry Louise, who heads the town council and for years has been a mainstay of the Emlenton Volunteer Fire Department.
“It was kind of like a little museum with the wooden grain shoots and elevators and the old hoppers. It was pretty picturesque inside.”
The Emlenton Mill, one of the first steam-powered grist mills in the United States, operated for more than 100 years. It shut down in the 1970s, Louise said.
In recent years it's been home to an ice cream shop, a bunkhouse hostel and historic center.
Nancy Marano, borough manager, said there was a surreal feeling in town this morning.
“Last night, the whole town was nothing but aglow,” Marano said. “You can't believe it.”
As she was walking to work this morning, she said the entire borough is covered in ash from the fire and there is a lingering burning smell. The mill is about three blocks away from the borough building.
Marano said it is a devastating loss to the community. She said the area was working on getting over the loss of refinery business and trying to reinvent itself as a historical and tourist area.
The loss of the building is one thing, but she said, the loss of the grist mill machinery is particularly difficult because it cannot be replaced.
“Everybody's feeling a little sad,” Marano said.
Denny Hickman, who owns several businesses including Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring in the borough, said the fire represents another loss to the area. He said it was neat for the borough that the Newbury family had worked to revitalize the mill in recent years.“It's just a sad day for Emlenton,” said Hickman, whose family has been in the region for five generations. “It's a bad deal.”A cause of the fire was not immediately known and the state police fire marshal at the Seneca station in Venango County is investigating.An Emlenton police officer spotted smoke coming from the mill complex and called in the fire shortly after 10 p.m., sending hundreds of firefighters from about 50 departments to he mill that sits near the banks of the Allegheny River.Flames stretching 40 to 50 feet into the red and orange lit sky were ominous warnings for crews traveling roads leading to the borough.The weather posed a major problem for fire crews who had to battle freezing temperatures that made it difficult to get water onto the buildings.A nearby water hydrant was the only immediate resource available since the frozen river could not be tapped.Emlenton Fire Chief Dave Whitehill issued an “all call” alert to get as many tankers there as possible.The emergency request did not go unheeded. Tankers from as far away as Marienville in Forest County got there.But there were more problems.“The pumps froze up on a lot of the tankers and engines,” said chief Gerry Rea of the Clintonvlle Volunteer Fire Department. “It was that cold.”A tanker shuttle was be deployed using fill sites — ponds and hydrants — on Route 38 just outside Eau Claire and in Parker.Getting the tanker trucks into and out of town, however, proved another challenge.“It was mass confusion,” Rea said. “The streets are so narrow in Emlenton that you could only get two tankers in at a time.Water run off during the fire fight also made for icy road conditions, authorities, and one more headache.“It wasn't easy for the guys either,” Rea said. “Our gear was freezing over and it was really cold out there.”Eagle staff writer John Bojarski contributed to this report.
