Second fire strikes Sheet & Tube homes

Fire Capt. Dave Harris said it does not appear that the fire was caused by squatters, but the cause is under investigation. The cause is suspicious because the home has had no utilities for many years.

Mayor Bryan Tedesco said nobody got hurt, and the fire in the vacant structure in the 100 block of Chamber Street was relatively minor. The home was “vandalized. Nobody lived there, and it was marked for demolition,” Tedesco said.

“It’s less serious,” he said when asked to rank the importance of the most recent fire.

He said the unit where the fire occurred is condemned, “the doors are off of it. Somebody started a fire, probably another squatter because they got cold. That’s what’s happening. You need a ton of money to board them up or tear them down.”

“Our thing is why not tear them down, beautify the area, put a park down there for the people, have a playground or something. We are just waiting for the playground down there.”

In mid-February, Debora Flora, executive director of the Mahoning County Land Bank, said the demolition of some of the homes was halted to allow time for the State Historic Preservation Office to review photos and information of properties the land bank and Campbell city officials want to tear down.

Tedesco said the delay relates to the state’s desire to hold an event sort of like a “memorial for the houses out there. I suggested a wall, flags and plaques” as a way to mark the location of the homes, which are considered historic. “That’s going to be later on, but right now, it’s on hold,” he said.

The homes — built in 1915 to provide housing for Youngstown Sheet & Tube employees — were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Because the historical landmark designation, properties slated for demolition must be approved by the state.

“The property does have some historical significance, and it’s a qualification of the grant program we are working with, that we would talk to (the state historic preservation office) about these properties,” before going forward with demolitions, Flora said in February.

But Levendis said the fire is further evidence that waiting to remove the structures is dangerous.

“They are beyond repair. And now it is a serious, serious safety issue, and this office (of preservation) is putting people in harm’s way. You are putting the safety forces (in danger), the community (in danger), and something has to give here,” Levendis said Monday.

He said there are drug dealers, squatters, “kids just horse playing around there. These buildings are not rehabable. There’s no way those buildings can be rehabbed. They all would have been demolished by now.”

He noted, “We’ve had two fires in the last three months. We had a fatality in one of the fires. Thank God we didn’t have another fatality in there. How that fire started is suspicious. As fast as you board them up, people are going back inside and ransacking them again anyway.” He said, “I’m livid.”

Some of the buildings have been renovated and are in good shape.

But others have been vacant 25 years.”Roofs have collapsed into the buildings. The floors are collapsed. A serious problem with rodents. We had to have a cat cleanup because there were so many stray cats in there. Our zoning is collecting cats so they were not euthanized during demolition. Kids in and out of these buildings is a problem. Drugs. There was a catch basin full of thousands of hypodermic needles.”

erunyan@vindy.com