Flames tear through former dance studio in South Park Township

SOUTH PARK TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A large plume of smoke over South Park Township was hard to miss Monday night as flames shot out of the roof of a building near the corner of Brownsville Road and Wrescom Street, just off Library Road.

“It was all up in flames, lot of smoke. I saw it from my house half a mile away,” said resident Roy Ankrom.

PHOTOS: Flames rip through building in South Park Township, sending huge clouds of smoke into the air

“I just saw smoke from probably about a mile away. I live right up the road. It’s been on fire consistently,” added resident Laura Tobin.

The large fire drew a big crowd of onlookers as firefighters worked for more than two hours to get the two-alarm fire under control.

The flames were so intense and took so much water to extinguish that Brownsville Road filled up with water as firefighters doused the building from all angles.

“It’s crazy,” Tobin said. “We’ve seen about five ladders up just dousing it the whole time. We saw some firefighters walking through the road here, it’s up to their knees in water. The whole road’s flooded at this point.”

Officials with the Library Volunteer Fire Company tell Channel 11 the building was empty when they arrived, and no one was hurt.

“The building’s been here forever. It’s been abandoned for about three years. I’ve never seen anything like this. Crazy,” Tobin said.

Tobin believes the building had been empty for the last few years, but she and many others remember it as a long-time dance studio.

“It used to be a dance studio, Ruby Daugherty’s dance studio. They had an international baton twirling team that won a lot of awards in like the 90s, so it’s really sad to see this now,” Tobin said.

She and many other neighbors are eager to find out how this blaze began.

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal will work to determine the cause.

“I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. Something like that makes you wonder,” Ankrom said.

“For it to be burning like this, it really makes you wonder how did this start and what is inside that’s kept it going for so long?” Tobin questioned.

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