Early morning fire damages Irene Stacy
BUTLER TWP — Fire early this morning heavily damaged a portion of the Irene Stacy Community Mental Health Center complex.
The fire started shortly before 5 a.m. in the roof of the administration wing at the facility on Hillvue Drive in Butler Township, authorities said.
No one was hurt but the facility was expected to be closed indefinitely.
“There are offices there and there's a good deal of damage to that section,” said township fire marshal Larry Christy.
A cause was not immediately known but the blaze did not appear to be suspicious. Christy estimated damage between $50,000 and $60,000, but he acknowledged that could rise.
Natalie Ross, executive director at Irene Stacy, arrived during the fire but she declined to comment.
Ross divided her time between briefings with fire officials about the blaze and making calls on her cell phone, notifying other administrators, executive board members and employees about what was happening.
The building's alarm system alerted authorities of the fire, according to Ed Tassey, Irene Stacy's director of maintenance.
Within moments of the alarm, Tassey was awakened by the telephone.
“It was the alarm company, saying there was a problem,” he said. “I got here and saw three fire trucks but there was nothing but light smoke coming out the roof.”
The complex consists of three or four interconnected buildings. Atop each building is a mansard roof, similar to the recognizable red roofs seen at Pizza Hut restaurants.
Air handling units used as part of the facility's heating system are contained in the lantern-style roofs.
The smoke appeared to be confined to the roof at the far end of the building where administrative offices are based, Tassey said.
Firefighters from a number of departments began to converge and wasted little time taking action. An attack hose was quickly set up as was the Butler Township Volunteer Fire District's ladder truck.
Once power saws cut the first ventilation hole through the roof, the extent of the fire was exposed.
“That's when all the smoke started coming out,” Tassey said. “No flames, just all smoke.”
But as more holes were cut, flames started popping up. By 6:30 a.m., the fire stretched across the entire mansard roof.While crews battled the blaze from the lower roof, firefighters carried a hand line into another section of the building to supplement the interior attack.Tassey shut off a portion of the power inside the building. Later, a West Penn Power worker killed the entire service.Crews, meanwhile, labored to contain the stubborn blaze.“We're going to cut a hole on top of the roof and get to it from the top down,” one firefighter yelled to colleagues manning the ladder truck.“The fire was in the built up-type roof,” Christy explained later. “The difficulty was having to deal with two roofs (the base roof and the mansard roof) to get to it.”Shortly after 7 a.m., the fire appeared to be contained.“Those guys did a good job,” Christy said.He said the fire damage was contained to the administrative wing. Tassey noted that many file cabinets are housed in that section.The remainder of the facility sustained smoke damage and would likely be forced to remain closed for at least a day or two, Christy said.Battling the blaze were 35 to 40 firefighters from South Butler, Mercer Road, the Butler Township Fire District, Penn Township, Herman, Lick Hill, Adams Area and Saxonburg.
