Stove store burns

By FRITZ MAYER

YOUNGSVILLE, NY — For the second weekend running, Route 52 in Youngsville was closed off as firefighters battled a structure fire in the middle of town.

Shortly after 3:00 p.m. on June 20, a fast-moving blaze broke out at the Countryside Stove and Chimney store. The owner, Mark Schroeder, had reportedly left the store and returned to find it burning. Witnesses said the building, one of the oldest in town, was fully engulfed in flames within minutes after smoke was seen.

Ryan Bose, chief of the Youngsville Fire Department, said the building was essentially an old post and beam barn. It was so badly damaged that it had to be torn down the next day because it was unstable.

Bose said the cause of the fire was still under investigation, and no one was injured during the incident.

A week earlier, a fire broke out down the street in the building that housed the Youngsville American Bakery. The building was badly damaged. Bose said the cause of that fire has been determined to be electrical in nature.