Pa. Chief Calls Vacant Hotel 'Death Trap' for Firefighters

Luzerne County Council members should support an agreement to demolish the vacant Hotel Sterling because of "firefighting dangers in this building," Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney said.

"The danger presented with holes in the floors is just one obstacle regarding safety in the broad daylight," Delaney wrote in an email. "Under smoke conditions at nighttime the building can be a death trap for firefighters."

Luzerne County has been trying to negotiate a demolition agreement with the city and CityVest, owner of the Sterling, for months. An obstacle is the city's insistence that it won't waive demolition-permit fees.

The city wants to collect $50,000 in demolition fees to recover expenses from the detour around Sterling, which costs the city about $5,000 a month. After the Susquehanna River flood in September, the city condemned the 114-year-old building as unsafe and diverted traffic away.

The city should "put aside the drawing-lines-in-the-sand mentality," county Council Chairman Jim Bobeck said. A contractor hired for the demolition project would pay the fees, city spokesman Drew McLaughlin said, explaining the city has agreed to provide the county with $270,000 from a grant for the demolition.

In November, the outgoing commissioners authorized using $1 million in federal development funds to demolish the Sterling. But the cost to demolish will remain unknown until a demolition design is completed and the project is bid, county Engineer Joe Gibbons said.

Several county council members have said the county should find out how much it would cost to mothball and stabilize the Sterling, which could give preservationists another 25 years to find funding to save the building. Delaney said he opposes mothballing the building because it presents an "immediate danger."

Delaney said he went through the building in November with City Fire Inspector William Sharksnas. Most of the building's contents has been removed, but the building can still burn, Delaney said, noting mattresses from vagrants "can contribute to combustion."

Copyright 2012 - The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service