Small fire closes High Street
POTTSTOWN >> A small, smoky fire in the third-floor apartment of a building in the 200 block of High Street elicited a major response from the fire department Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 22.
Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand said the fire occurred in an exhaust fan in the bathroom of a thirdfloor apartment, affecting the third and fourth floors of the four-story building at 213 E. High St.
The fire call came in just after 4 p.m. and High Street was closed off between North Hanover and Penn streets for about 90 minutes.
Resident Steve Zappone, wrapped in a wet blanket out in the rain on the sidewalk, said he smelled the smoke and dialed 911.
A short time later, resident Robert Rolston Jr. returned to the scene carrying a cat rescued from the situation. The cat’s name — and we’re not making this up — is “Smokey.”
After the fire was doused, Hand sought out a police officer who brought him and Borough Manager Justin Keller into the building. Hand refused to say why, other than “the police were needed to help with the investigation.”
The first floor of the brownstone building is occupied by a new clothing store called Frag Out Clothing and customers and workers returned after about an hour.
In addition to the fire police, responding were the Phillies, Goodwill, Limerick, West End and Sanatoga fire companies, along with Goodwill Ambulance.
High Street was reopened to traffic after about 90 minutes.
Although the rain made thinks uncomfortable, it luckily had also forced the postponement of the borough Halloween Parade to Thursday.
Had people been crowding the street for the parade, the firefighters may have faced a delay in accessing the fire.