Early Sunday morning, 21 firefighters and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to Joy Pest Control, 3091 S. Main St. in the Lower Askam section of Hanover Township.
A vehicle had crashed into the building, and both the car and a portion of the building went up in flames. The blaze started just after midnight, according to Hanover Township Fire Chief Stanley Browski said, and it took roughly 45 minutes to extinguish.
The building had an office in the front and a residence in the rear. Chief Browski said the office was completely destroyed by the fire, and that portion of the building eventually collapsed.
No one was inside at the time of the fire. The building's owners and residents, Charles and Elizabeth Myers, were out of town for the weekend. Browski said Sunday night that the couple's children were still trying to contact them.
According to the chief, the building sustained moderate smoke damage. However, the fire was completely contained to the office portion of the house.Browski said the building is not yet habitable because of the smoke damage."It's going to be a fairly quick cleanup," Browski said.
Nearby residents removed the two occupants of the vehicle after it crashed into the house. Both men were flown by helicopter to Community Medical Center in Scranton.
Browski said their injuries were impact-related, not burns. Additional information, including their identities and conditions, was not available Sunday night.
The incident remains under investigation.
