SUNBURY - A building home to a popular bar sustained $200,000 in damage in a fire early Thursday morning.
Firefighters responded to the Brass Key, 200 Reagan St., Sunbury, shortly after 4 a.m. when several people spotted smoke coming from the two-story building.
The bar and two vacant apartments above sustained heavy smoke and fire damage, according to Sunbury Fire Chief Mike Rhoads, who had command of the scene. Rhoads said the fire was electrical in nature and originated in the basement. The bar's owner, Anthony Sanutti, of Sunbury, is insured.
"There was a tremendous amount of smoke to the point you couldn't see the structure," Rhoads said of the initial conditions. "There was fire in the bar area, on the north side of the structure, and fire on the second floor, on the east side."
Firefighters attacked the blaze from all floors and cut two holes in the roof to ventilate the building. Efforts to control the blaze were aimed at the kitchen area of the bar and the apartments above at the rear of the building, which sustained the most damage. Once the fire was knocked down, firefighters positioned fans at the front of the building that blew smoke through the roof, allowing firefighters to work more safely inside.
The Sunbury Fire Department and mutual-aid companies, including those from Shamokin and Coal Township, responded to the three-alarm blaze.
Jenney Denney, who lives nearby at 465 N. Second St., became aware of the fire when she saw the flashing lights of a fire truck. According to Denney, employees of the Brass Key usually lockup around 3:45 a.m.
"The Brass Key is known in Sunbury," Denney said while she watched firefighters extinguish remaining flames. "Everybody knows where the Brass Key is."
