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Omega Door boss optimistic after fire
By John Goodwin
and Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
Harry Vanderburg had a succinct message Wednesday after a fire at Omega Door Co., 1223 Gibson St.
“We’re not going anywhere,” said Vanderburg, the company’s commercial division manager. “We’ll rebuild. We’re staying in Youngstown.”
Vanderburg said the company’s 18 employees were all working Wednesday installing doors.
On Tuesday night, all but one of Youngstown’s firetrucks — along with 30 city firefighters — battled the blaze for hours.
Vanderburg said the charred portion of the building was used for manufacturing and storage.
“We’re fortunate it happened at that end of the building,” he said.
Vanderburg said it is too soon to tell the true cost of the damage.
Firefighters were alerted at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday and made it to the scene within three minutes. What they discovered was smoke rising from the roof of one building and a fire that had the potential to spread.
The department has not determined a cause for the fire, but one employee did say she heard what sounded like someone on the roof of the business just prior to smelling smoke and calling the fire department.
Initial damage estimates reported by the fire department are $1 million to the actual property and an additional $200,000 in damage or loss to the contents in the building.
Two dogs kept in a fenced area of the business for security weren’t harmed during the blaze. They were outside the building and barked as flames buckled the roof. They were corralled in an area near the rear of the lot as fire crews arrived.
It took most of the Youngstown Fire Department’s manpower to contain the fire at one of three building sections.
Youngstown Fire Chief John O’Neill said such a large-scale fire can hamper efforts in other parts of the city only for a short period of time until officials regroup and organize. He said the battalion chief on duty scrambled to fill reserve trucks in case of an emergency in another part of the city and calls for assistance were made.
“There is a period of time when the true backup is to call your neighbors and ask for help,” O’Neill said.
The city called in about 10 off-duty firefighters to help battle the blaze and man the rest of the city. Those 10 firefighters got help from the Austintown Fire Department which was called in to man one fire station and help cover the rest of the city.
The Canfield Fire Department was also called to the scene with an air trailer to fill air bottles for firefighters.
Firefighters battled the blaze until just before 5 a.m. when all crews were released.
O’Neill said firefighters were routinely rotated in and out of duty to maintain safety during the more than nine-hour battle with the blaze.
O’Neill said experience with such fires made it possible to save the building with little risk to firefighters.
“In our history, we have so many large fires that we didn’t have to burn the building down, we worked to save the building,” said O’Neill. “We get so many fires, many single-house fires, but each fire increases your experience and lets you work the tougher fires with less panic and less anxiety.”
One firefighter was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for a foot injury.