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Fire strikes Lernerville

Firefighters gather outside a pole building that burned this morning at Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township. No one was injured in the 4 a.m. call. The building houses an office and garage. A fire official said the bulk of the blaze was near the building's electrical service panel.
Pole building housing garage, office burns

BUFFALO TWP — No one was injured this morning when fire broke out in a pole building that houses the office and a garage at the Lernerville Speedway.

The state police fire marshal has been called in to investigate, but authorities do not believe the blaze that started about 4 a.m. was suspicious.

“The bulk of the fire was near where the electrical (service) panel was located,” said Chief Matt Cypher of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company.

A damage estimate was not immediately available. The garage contains a workshop, tools and machines, including a pickup truck and a tractor.

“It's disgusting in there,” said Tim Tomson, general manager at Lernerville, after getting a quick look inside the garage, post fire.

The business, was closed and no one was at the facility when a Buffalo Township police officer on patrol spotted the fire and alerted fire crews.

“There was heavy fire in the back section of the garage and smoke around the entire building when we got here,” Cypher said. “Crews went right through the main door where the fire was and made a good knockdown.”

Firefighters had the blaze out by 5:15 a.m. The fire did not breach the office area.

Assisting the Buffalo Township VFC were firefighters from Sarver, Saxonburg, Herman and Winfield Township in Butler County and South Buffalo Township and Kittanning 6 in Armstrong County.

In all, about 50 firefighters joined in the call. The fire temporarily closed a stretch of Route 356.

“I hate fires,” Tomson said. “But thank God nobody was hurt.”

Nicknamed “Padre,” Tomson's reference to God carries extra weight. He's a priest at the St. Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church in McKees Rocks, Allegheny County.

His family's business, Tomson Scrap Metal of Brackenridge, Allegheny County, bought Lernerville in 2015.

The popular dirt track opened in 1967 and has run continuously ever since. It was built at the location of Lernerville Park, a one-time amusement that sprung up in the 1940s.

The pole building damaged in this morning's fire originally was a Chevy dealership, Lernerville officials said, before it morphed into a gas station.

The racing season, Tomson noted, begins in April.

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