State fire marshal to investigate hospital fire
BROWNSVILLE – A building that Brownsville Borough Code Enforcement Officer Edward “Woody” Nicholson has cited as being an unsafe structure was the scene of a suspicious fire last Friday. The state police fire marshal has been called to investigate the cause of a fire in the old Brownsville Hospital laundry building located at Fifth and Baltimore streets in the borough last week. According to Jordan Sealy, the first assistant chief of the Brownsville No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department, all of the utilities were off at the vacant structure when the fire occurred, leading him to call the fire marshal on the case.
“I haven’t heard back from him yet,” Jordan Sealy said Monday afternoon.
Jordan Sealy said that when firefighters arrived on the scene flames could be seen coming from a second story window on the Church Street side of the building, which fronts on Baltimore Street.
Brownsville No. 1 Fire Chief Clark Sealy said he was at work Friday morning when he heard the call on the fire radio. He has long been outspoken about the hazards vacant buildings in Brownsville present to firefighters.
“I was sitting on a train in West Brownsville and it was very frustrating. I was concerned for everyone’s safety. I had fears of the building collapsing. The roof isn’t in the best of shape. I was hoping it was something small that could be contained easily,” Clark Sealy said.
His son, Jordan Sealy, said that is what occurred.
“We contained it to about one and a half rooms, but there was some smoke damage to other parts of the second floor,” Jordan Sealy said.
Firefighters were called in from South Brownsville, West Brownsville, Hiller and California to assist the Brownsville No. 1 fire company at the scene. Sealy said firefighters were there for about an hour and a half early Friday morning, finishing around 3 a.m.
Ernest Liggett of Monroeville owns the old hospital building. Nicholson said he has filed citations against the property for being an unsafe structure due to falling bricks and missing windows. The hearing on the citations was initially scheduled for April 7 before Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty, but that hearing has twice been rescheduled and is now set for May 11.