LNP, Lancaster, Pa.
(TNS)
Jul. 19—A pugent smell of smoke still hung in the air the morning after the site of a massive fire at Tollbooth Antiques in Columbia.
Fire marshals and police were still investigating the cause of a blaze that swept through the entire warehouse late on Thursday.
Crews responded to the fire around 8:30 p.m., according to Lancaster County Wide Communications. Dozens of emergency units were on scene, with others on standby into York County and Lancaster Township, as the blaze reportedly spread to include several buildings.
By 9:45 p.m., the flames were no longer visible from inside the city, but crowds were gathered around the complex.
David Doolittle has owned the building, formerly the Kahn Lucas factory, since 2005 with his wife, Sue. The two began turning the process of turning it into Tollbooth Antiques in 2008 after plans for a hotel and spa on the site were scrapped. It officially opened in 2011, according to LNP archives.
Doolittle said he heard trucks and emergency sirens responding to the fire around 9 p.m. Thursday. Police told him there were empty firework containers behind the building. He said they keep the windows open during the hot parts of the summer.
Nobody was inside the building at the time of the fire, Doolittle said, and no injuries have been reported thus far. He expressed gratitude to the responding firefighters and police for their work.
Doolittle has insurance on the building, but that would not cover the 50 vendors who rent space from him. He said he's currently working on connecting with all of them to come up with a plan.
His hope is to restore the buildings on the periphery of the property to serve as a kind of open-air market. A white building on the site was virtually untouched by the fire, he said, and another closer to town sustained damage that can be repaired.
The main building, however, is a total loss. Doolittle said he has a crew ready to demolish the remains as soon as the fire marshal's investigation is complete and vendors are contacted. He hopes to be operational again in a few months, but doesn't know the exact time they'll be up and running.
"Regardless, we're going to need some new merchandise," he said.
Some vendors who were set up in the market reported major losses. Paul Foy, 48, of Elizabethtown, has rented around 2,500 square feet of space for 12 years; he estimates he had around $250,000 in items, including chairs and furniture from the 1600's and 1700's, oddities like an aircraft fuel pump from the early 1900's and antique signs.
Now, they're all gone. Foy was one of the vendors with insurance; he and Doolittle haven't directly coordinated yet. He can see the remains of some of his big-ticket items but can't get to them.
"I had a lot of expensive stuff," he said. "It's a complete loss. There's a lot of money in this building. You wouldn't believe it."
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
___
(c)2024 LNP (Lancaster, Pa.)
Visit LNP (Lancaster, Pa.) at lancasteronline.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
