Pa. Fire Dept. Sued for Failing to Extinguish Fire

UNION CITY, Pa. -- The owner of a massive former furniture plant that was leveled by fire in early December has filed suit against the borough and its volunteer fire department over what he calls inadequate attempts to save the 210,000-square-foot structure.

In the suit, which was filed Friday, Carl Boone claims that the Dec. 2 fire at the former Cherry Hill Division of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., 77 S. Main St., was set off by two people who were cutting metal with a blowtorch on the second floor of the building. The unnamed individuals were not permitted to be in the building, and it is believed that they were stealing metal to sell as scrap, according to the suit.

Fire investigators said after the fire that workers using torches accidentally set off the fire. Union City Police Chief Kevin Jones said this morning that the suspected metal theft was never reported to police.

Boone, of Hackettstown, N.J., also claims in the suit that firefighters did not attempt to operate the building's fire suppression system and did not "act with a sense of urgency" in extinguishing the fire.

"There was a predetermined decision by the Union City Fire Department that if the building ever caught on fire, Union City Fire Department would not attempt to extinguish the fire but would instead operate as a 'controlled burn structure fire,'" the suit states.

Twenty-five fire departments from throughout the region were called in to fight the fire, which was reported at about 11:40 a.m. Union City Fire Chief Robert Wolf said on the day of the fire that it had gotten such a head start by the time the first firefighters arrived that when crews made their first entry into the building, they encountered heavy flames and were pulled out.

Wolf said this morning that he could not comment on Boone's lawsuit.

The fire leveled the building, and heat from the fire damaged some homes on a street along the south end of the 1.95-acre property.

Boone, who bought the property in May 2008, could not be reached for comment this morning.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service