Kish Apartments hit by another fire
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LEWISTOWN - Typically, the holidays bring a lot of cheer and good tidings. For Lewistown Fire Chief Bob Bartlett, Thanksgiving Day brought a fire at the Kish Apartments in Lewistown.
For Bartlett, it marked the third such fire in as many years.
Previous fires might have proved more destructive than this year's fire, which proved more deadly as Shawna Snyder, 49, perished Thursday morning, according to Mifflin County Acting Coroner Andrea L. Alcalde. Autopsy results were still pending Friday.
Fire officials confirmed that four people and a firefighter were taken to the hospital.
"The other two were caused by careless smoking," Bartlett said Thursday. "This one is to be determined yet. There was major fire damage to one apartment, and smoke throughout the building."
Most of the residents were expected to return to the apartments on Friday that were affected by smoke and water, Bartlett said.
In December 2011, more than 40 apartments were uninhabitable for at least a month as the result of a fire. For that incident, Bartlett said one seventh floor apartment was "totally destroyed" and the whole "Lewistown" wing had been condemned for the time being.
"Water went down through several floors and got into the electrical system," he said. "With no electricity in one wing, we can't have people staying there."
A woman also died of smoke inhalation in a July 2022 fire at Kish Apartments, according to a coroner's report. First responders, including Bartlett, arrived on scene to find a seventh-floor apartment fully engulfed, bellowing heavy smoke with entrapment of a resident, according to a story account.
"The crews worked aggressively on recovery," Bartlett told a reporter that day.
The following responded to this year's Thanksgiving fire: Burnham Fire Co., Chief Logan Fire Dept., City Hook and Ladder Fire Co., Granville Fire Co., Heritage Fire Co., Junction Fire Co., West Granville Fire Co. and Yeagertown Fire Co.
Also responding were Big Valley EMS, Fame EMS, McVeytown EMS, Milroy EMS, Mount Nittany Medical Center EMS, Port Royal EMS, Lewistown Borough Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police and transfers from surrounding counties.