Mill fire leaves mark on town
EMLENTON, Venango County — A week after the Emlenton Mill burned in a massive fire, its remains still are smoking.
The 140-year-old mill, owned by Paul and Nancy Newbury, caught fire at about 10 p.m. Feb. 5. The family owned the mill for about 10 years and operated several businesses there.
“I was really grateful that I just felt kind of numb for the first few days,” Nancy Newbury said. “I still feel very numb.”
The mill, which was one of the first steam-powered grist mills in the United State, contained an ice cream shop, a museum and a bunkhouse hostel. Last June, the Newbury's added an antique shop where vendors had items for sale.
Newbury said all of the antiques were destroyed.
“There's nothing,” she said.
She said the insurance company told her the building is a total loss, but she could not provide a dollar amount of damage.
“You can't replace a building like that,” Newbury said.
She said they are not sure what they will do.
“We would like to do what's best for the community. We don't know exactly what that looks like right now,” Newbury said.
There are two community initiatives going on and several groups working on them. She said they will look for these groups' input as to what to do.
These include the borough's participation in the Blueprint Communities initiative, where communities work to plan for the future, and the new Trail Town Program designation, which helps link towns along bicycle trails.
Despite the damage, she said she is grateful that nobody was hurt and that there was no wind the night of the fire which would have spread the damage even more.
The cause of the fire still is under investigation.
Barry Louise, assistant chief at the Emlenton Volunteer Fire Department and the president of borough council, said this was one of the largest fires he has seen. He did recall similarly large fires, such as when a warehouse burned in the 1970s and a furniture store fire in the 1980s.He said the mill went up quickly, adding it was fueled by 2-foot-by-2-foot wooden beams in the structure.“You couldn't stop it. It was massive,” Louise said.The extreme cold caused some issues that night. When the fire call came in, Louise said the thermometer at his house read 8 below zero.The Allegheny River was frozen, which left only a single fire hydrant as a water source. Additionally, some of the gear was freezing up due to the cold.With the river being frozen, the department had to call for as many tanker trucks as possible to bring water.Hundreds of firefighters from at least 50 departments in multiple counties responded. Louise said he saw trucks from as far away as Marienville in Forest County and Penn Township in Butler County.“We don't know who all was there,” Louise said.He said it is sad to lose a historic building. He said it is tough for the area to lose businesses.“When you lose them, it's hard to get them back,” Louise said.Several houses also suffered melted siding due to the heat of the fire.And clothing store Amy's Closet had heavy fire, smoke and water damage.Amy Whitehill, borough council vice president and the owner of the store, also lives in the apartment above the store. She was asleep when the fire started and was awakened by a firefighter and police officer knocking on her door.Her building was right next door to the mill. Its upstairs apartment suffered heavy damage, and has four or five holes in the roof. She is staying with her father for now.“It's amazing it's still standing,” Whitehill said.She said a fire official told her that the core of the mill's remains still is smoldering at about 800 degrees.The downstairs of the building, where the store was, did not appear to have any internal fire damage. However, the holes in the roof have led to leaking and water damage downstairs. Whitehill said the building likely will be demolished.Although she lost plenty of inventory, a good amount was able to be salvaged. A cleaning company already is working on cleaning it.Since the fire, she has received a check from one of her customers as well as other monetary donations from churches and friends. She said the community is generous.“I'm much better at giving than I am at receiving,” Whitehill said.Dixie Gordon, who owns Amazing Stitches on Main Street, said the fire was sad. She said there is some talk about how to help the families or help them stay in the borough.“There's a lot of discussions right now,” Gordon said.Cindy Elder, manager of the Farmer's National Bank branch on Main Street, said she would like to see the Newburys and Whitehill rebuild.But she said, “You can't replace the history, obviously.”She said that there are several grants that might be available to help them.
