SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Lightning during Wednesday morning’s severe thunder storm that rolled through southern Schuylkill County struck and damaged the building that is home to Evans Delivery and the Walk-In Art Center.
Schuylkill Haven Assistant Fire Chief James Reed said firefighters were called around 1:10 a.m. and learned a large brick chimney on the building was struck by lightning, causing a loud bang that shook the Schuylkill Haven police station next door.
Reed said the strike blew out a substantial portion of the 4-foot by 4-foot chimney, sending bricks to the ground and also through a window on the third floor of the building.
The lightning strike also caused a small fire near an old piece of machinery on the first floor of the building, a machine probably used in the manufacturing process of the former Walk-In Shoe Co.
Reed said that, back in the day, the operator of that machine probably built a small wooded platform to stand on instead of the concrete. What caught fire was that platform that also had padding and carpeting on top.
Although firefighters extinguished the fire using two water cans, Reed said, the padding and carpeting caused enough smoke to make its way through other portions of the building.
“It was a small fire but it generated a lot of smoke,” he said.
Reed said firefighters used between 10 and 12 fans to clear the smoke from the building.
He said extensive damage was done to the chimney, which is not used any more, and some minor smoke damage to the building.
Firefighters cleared the scene in about two hours, the assistant chief said.
Reed said that, in addition to the former factory at Parkway and Columbia Street, lightning apparently struck the Schuylkill Haven Area High School.
After clearing from the Evans Delivery building, Reed said, he checked the high school and found various alarms going off, apparently triggered by a lightning strike.
Although no damage was reported, Reed said the alarms had to be reset and the building checked.
Contact the writer: fandruscavage@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6013
