A morning fire that at one point forced as many as 90 residents from their apartment units had 36 Scrantonians staying away from home Sunday night.
City firefighters responded to the nine-floor United House Apartments building, 501 Pine St., around 9 a.m., shortly after a blaze in unit 811 blew open a window and spread to the surrounding units, Deputy Fire Chief Al Lucas said.
No one was injured, as residents were rushed to the Bethel AME Church next door, where most stayed until 2 p.m.
But a number of rooms, from 108 to 111 all the way up to 908 to 911, experienced severe smoke and water damage and won't be reopened for another 24 to 72 hours, Chief Lucas said.
"None of those rooms have any power," said Chief Lucas, who said fire inspectors had ruled out any foul play. "Water has dropped from the eighth floor down to the fourth floor, so the electrician has to make sure everything is okay before he re-energizes the place."
Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire at the apartment complex that mostly serves as a retirement home.
Around 9 a.m., just as Joe Engelbert was racing down the steps from his apartment on the seventh floor, the Rev. Tawan Bailey heard people yelling "fire" outside the church.
Still dressed in his "night clothes," Rev. Bailey said he looked up just in time to see the fire burst open the eighth-floor window.
"I knew these people would need temporary shelter, so I opened the doors," Rev. Bailey said. "I wanted to get them out of the cold and make everyone as comfortable as possible."
For the next four plus hours, residents including Mr. Engelbert, sat inside Bethel A.M.E., where they received fresh meals, snacks and water provided by the local Red Cross team.
Occasionally, firefighters took a small group of residents back to their apartments to retrieve medications or cell-phones. But no one was allowed back inside their apartment until close to 2 p.m. - and even then, 36 people couldn't return to their apartments at all.
"It's scary, because the alarm goes off so often that you just assume it's because of burnt toast or something," Mr. Engelbert said. "Then when you see the fire, it's just shocking. Obviously, it's frustrating that you can't go home, but at least no one was hurt."
Later in the afternoon, Carmon Flynn, the executive director of the local Red Cross chapter, said he expected about 30 people would need to be provided shelter.
But it turns out all 36 people displaced either bunked up in another resident's apartment or stayed at with family or at a friend's house, Mr. Flynn said.
"We were prepared for dozens of them, but apparently no one needed the shelter - which is always a good thing," Mr. Flynn said. "If called upon, we will continue to provide support to those who need it."
Calls to United House's management office in Scranton and the realty company in New York went unanswered Sunday night. The building had 98 apartments and housed about 110 people, according to a 2010 Times-Tribune story. It is owned by United House Realty LLC of Brooklyn, which acquired the building in 2007, according to Lackawanna County property records.
Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com, @miorfinoTT on Twitter