Mercer apartment fire damages another unit and a restaurant

Staff report

mercer, pa.

A fire in an apartment at 1391/2 N. Diamond St. caused $100,000 in damage to another apartment and a restaurant, the East End Fire Department reported.

The fire at 10 p.m. Monday was contained to a second-floor apartment, but there was smoke and water damage in a second apartment and significant water damage in D&M Sapore Ravioli’s Italian Restaurant on the first floor, said fire Capt. Shane Lyttle.

Residents in three other apartments in an adjoining building also were evacuated. That building, which includes the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce on the first floor, was not damaged. The buildings are separated by a firewall, Lyttle said.

The state fire marshal is investigating, Lyttle said, but the cause is believed to be accidental.

He said that when firefighters arrived, police already had helped evacuate residents, and they were told that the woman who lives in the burning apartment was trapped on an outside balcony. Firefighters used a ladder to rescue her.

Lyttle did not release her name. He said she was treated at the scene by an ambulance crew.