Bellefonte Apartment Heavily Damaged in Fire

Three residents were displaced after a fire caused heavy damage to a Bellefonte apartment on Friday.

Fire companies were dispatched just before 11:30 a.m. to 135 W. Logan St., where Undine Fire Company personnel arrived first and found a well-involved blaze with flames coming out the front windows, Bellefonte Fire Department Assistant Chief Malachi Moyer said.

The unit is one of several in the same building on the corner of West Logan Street and South Spring Street, and after firefighters began the attack multiple other fire companies were dispatched on a second alarm.

“A second alarm was transmitted, due to the volume of fire and the amount of resources that were going to be needed,” Moyer said. “This had the potential of running the block, so we wanted to get a handle on it.”

Though neighboring residents were evacuated, the fire was mostly contained to one unit with minor extension into the neighboring apartment, Moyer said. Residents of the damaged apartment were not home at the time the fire started.

The fire was controlled in about an hour and no injuries were reported.

While habitability had not yet been determined, Moyer said he believed the main apartment involved was likely a total loss but that the neighboring unit may be habitable.

A state police fire marshal was en route to investigate the cause.

Icy weather held off for much of the response but presented a challenge as sleet and freezing rain picked up after noon.

“Our ladders are getting frozen. The ground’s getting frozen. People are slipping and stuff like that, but no injuries from those,” Moyer said.

Undine, Logan, Alpha, Walker Township, Pleasant Gap, Milesburg and Howard fire companies, along with Bellefonte and Pleasant Gap EMS, Bellefonte police and the Centre County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.