DOWNTOWN Blast, blaze in Youngstown injure jeweler

At one point, the entire building was in danger, the fire chief said.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A jewelry shop owner was burned in a two-alarm fire late Friday that destroyed his first-floor shop and caused smoke damage throughout downtown's five-story Legal Arts Center.
The jeweler, Dominic Paolone, 52, of the Youngstown Jewelry Repair Shop, suffered second- and third-degree burns on his hands, arms and face in the explosion of an acetylene tank used to melt metal jewelry.
He was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he was in stable condition, and flown by helicopter from there to the burn unit at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron, where he was listed in good condition Friday evening.
Changing tanks
Paolone was changing tanks when the explosion occurred, and he ran out of the building, said Capt. Alvin Ware, chief fire investigator.
The first companies responding to the first alarm at 4:35 p.m. turned in a second alarm three minutes later, bringing nine of the city's 10 firetrucks to the scene with 27 firefighters, said Fire Chief John O'Neill.
"The whole building was threatened at one point," but firefighters were able to confine the blaze to the jewelry shop, he said. "They made a really fast stop on this fire," he observed.
Someone, possibly Paolone, tried to put the fire out by using a fire hose within the building, which had been pulled out of its cabinet, O'Neill said. Damage is in "tens of thousands of dollars," he said.
O'Neill and Police Chief Robert Bush were at the scene, where Market Street was completely blocked by emergency vehicles.
Occupants evacuate
Several attorneys and at least one legal secretary in law offices above the jewelry shop evacuated the building safely, using the stairs. The building, which also contains a barbershop, is only 20 percent occupied, according to Odelin Kraja, building manager. The Hub restaurant on the ground floor closed earlier this year.
The building, located at 101 Market St., adjacent to the U.S. District Courthouse, is owned by Commonwealth Investors of Media, Pa.
"I heard a little explosion, and I saw smoke coming up," said Atty. George Tzagournis, whose office is on the third floor. "The fire shot right up to our window. I closed the window. I said, 'Something's wrong.' I ran down [the stairs] and Dominic was out here," standing on the sidewalk and reported his tank exploded, said Tzagournis. Paolone was using his cellular phone to call 911 before the firetrucks arrived, he recalled.
Tzagournis said he ran back up to his office and told his partner, Atty. John Vaporis, he needed to evacuate, and he helped Vaporis, who walks with a cane, out of the building via the back stairs. "That smoke was overwhelming," Tzagournis said.
After they heard two explosions, Atty. Dennis Sarisky and Alicia Williams, a legal secretary in his second floor office, left the building via a back stairway and called the fire department. Two of his clients had left the building via the elevator two minutes before the explosions, he said.
"It actually kind of frightened us. I mean you hear a boom, and then smoke," he said. "And then you get out and then you see all the fire there. I mean it was sort of scary, and then I'm worried about all our computers and our files," Sarisky said.