Thompson Market called total loss, tenant burned
WEST SUNBURY — Despite the efforts of multiple fire departments, Thompson’s Country Market collapsed during a fire Christmas morning. The structure at 136 Main St. was called a total loss and one person was injured.
Multiple calls came in shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 25, to county emergency dispatch with reports of smoke coming from the structure. One individual received facial burns, said Reid Campbell, chief of the West Sunbury Fire Department.
“There was an apartment in this (building) and they removed (the tenant) from the apartment,” Campbell said. “He has been transported by Slippery Rock ambulance to Butler (Memorial) Hospital.”
Campbell said the market was destroyed. Firefighters worked in fridge temperatures to contain the fire with assistance from “multiple agencies from our county and adjacent counties” that were dispatched to the scene, he said.
“We always hope that, if this happened, that we would be able to keep it to this one structure and not lose others,” Campbell said. “We have done that.”
West Penn Power was called to turn off the power.
Fire departments had issues getting water to fight the blaze, the chief said.
“There always is for a fire this size in the county,” Campbell said. “We don’t have hydrants. We haul all of our water by tank trucks and we have fill sites.
“We have one on this other side, the northern side of town. They have to fill the trucks, they have to haul the water in and everything takes big time for us.”
The fire appeared to be mostly put out shortly after noon.
Among those departments at the scene were Unionville, Chicora, Herman, Marion Township, Saxonburg, Onieda Valley and Bruin.
