Apartment above Butler Township tobacco shop damaged in fire, none injured
Neither of the two occupants of an apartment located above the Zivo Smoke Tobacco shop on East Jefferson Street in Butler Township were injured when the apartment caught fire Thursday, March 5. Another individual located in the downstairs tobacco shop also escaped injury.
According to Butler Township fire chief Scott Frederick, the tobacco shop sustained no physical damage in the fire, and all damage was limited to the upstairs apartment.
“There’s no fire damage in the first floor and lower floors,” Frederick said. “It was confined to the room and board.”
When asked how the fire would affect operations at the tobacco shop, Frederick said, “That’s undetermined at the moment.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to Frederick, but he said the fire started in the apartment of the living room.
A section of East Jefferson Street was closed by the Butler Township Police Department around 12:30 p.m. in response to the fire, but reopened about an hour later.
The owner of the tobacco shop told the Butler Eagle that, while the shop sustained no physical damage, it is closed for the time being due to the damage upstairs.
The building is the former location of Institute Hill Pharmacy.
The Butler Township Volunteer Fire District, Butler Bureau of Fire, Butler Township Police Department, Butler Ambulance Service and Unionville Volunteer Fire Company were initially dispatched. According to Frederick, the fire was knocked down in about 20 minutes.
