Old Bish Garage Collapses in Ford City

by David Croyle

Ford City Hose Company #1 was called to the scene of building collapse Saturday morning.

Ford City Fire Chief Ron Wojcik described the situation.

“The old Bish’s Garage collapsed, and it was a public safety hazard because the building was slightly leaning out toward the street. The roof had caved in on it and pushed the brick cement block against the neighbor’s house.”

The building was located on O’Connor Street between 4th and 5th Avenue. Gas and electric companies were called in to shut off services to the property.

Wojcik said the building was not occupied and may have been slated at some point for demolition in the future. He did not disclose the owner of the building, except to say it was still in the Bish family.

“They got a contractor in and he got the whole thing knocked down and he is going to load up the rubbish pile later this week.”

According to 9-1-1 records, Ford City Police requested the fire department’s assistance in securing the area at 7:55 AM. Wojcik said the fire department stayed on the scene until late afternoon.

“Whenever they were demolitioning it, they accidentally hit a propane tank that was in there. I wanted an engine crew sitting there in case anything would happen from that, but nothing did happen. We just had an engine down there ready to go.”

The street was closed throughout the day while the contractor demolished the building.

No injuries were reported as a result of the collapse.