Published: July 05, 2009 10:50 pm      

Fire destroys Keyser Comcast building

Residents left without cable service; blaze said suspicious

KEYSER, W.Va. — A fire with a suspicious origin raged through the Comcast building at 55 North Main St. Saturday night, causing $200,000 damage to the three-level structure and $200,000 to the communication equipment housed inside, according to Chris Paitsel, assistant Keyser fire chief.

Paitsel said the fire had at least two points of origin at the back of the building. “The West Virginia Fire Marshal will be here as soon as Monday,” he said Sunday afternoon. “There was only one room in the building being used by Comcast and it had a lot of equipment in it. TV service is out.”

Led by Keyser’s firefighters, volunteers from numerous companies converged on the Mineral County seat starting at about 9:30 p.m. to not only help douse the blaze, but also to protect the nearby buildings of Reed’s Drug Store and M&T Bank.

“Those two buildings got a little smoke in them, but it cleared out,” Paitsel said.

Paitsel said there was heavy smoke and flames when firefighters arrived. One firefighter was taken to Potomac Valley Hospital and was treated for smoke inhalation and released, according to Paitsel.

Also responding were fire crews from McCoole, New Creek, Piedmont, Westernport, Bloomington, Burlington, Elk Garden and Bowling Green.

“We used Bowling Green’s ladder truck to protect the bank building with a water curtain,” Paitsel said.

Keyser EMS and the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department also responded.

The fire was considered to be under control about 11 p.m. and extinguished a little after midnight, according to a Mineral County emergency dispatcher.

The building is owned by Telemedia and leased by Comcast. Traffic was restored to downtown streets shortly after the fire was determined to be doused.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.