Fire damages store, apartments above
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (June 16th, 2023) – Firefighters from all over the county spent the afternoon battling a blaze inside the former Foutz and Sons appliance store.
Captain Bert Snyder was coordinating the response at 510 Tuscarawas Avenue Northwest in what’s now a discount store with apartments above it. He says they arrived to smoke pouring out of the back and started attacking the fire through the back door while a crew from Dover searched the upper floors for anyone trapped inside the building.
“They got the fire knocked down fairly quickly in a building of this size and this nature. The older buildings like this, they have a lot of voids for fire to hide in, so the crews are very busy. The guys went through two, maybe three air bottles each crew.”
The occupants escaped unharmed before the first firetruck arrived. Firefighters remained on scene more than two hours after the initial call making sure the fire was completely extinguished and gauging the damage.
“We’ve got pretty extensive fire, water and smoke damage now so we’re going to have to further investigate to see just how much we have.”
Snyder didn’t know what might have caused the fire at that point but said it appeared to have started somewhere on the first floor. Firefighters from Bolivar, Sugarcreek, and Uhrichsville also assisted with the response.