CLEARFIELD – A fire completely destroyed Ethan’s Café/The Angry Bean and damaged neighboring buildings and apartments after igniting at approximately 11 p.m. Saturday along North Third Street in downtown Clearfield, according to Clearfield Borough Fire Chief Todd Kling.
When asked by GantDaily.com at the scene, Kling said the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal is expected to arrive at the scene this afternoon. He said the fire marshal will investigate the origin/nature of the fire and determine its cause.
According to Kling, the building that housed Ethan’s Café/The Angry Bean and upstairs apartments has extensive fire damage on its second floor and to the rear. He said, “The building looks to be a total loss. It has extensive fire and water damage. It’s just a total loss. We don’t have a dollar figure yet, but it will be a lot.
“There’s some damage to the county building, and the majority of it is water damage. They did have some fire damage up along the roof.”
Kling also said the fire transferred over into the building that houses Rick Evans Photography, which neighbors the restaurant/coffee shop and also has a second-floor apartment. He said two fire crews were sent inside and “knocked the fire out” to keep damage to a minimum there.
Kling said fire crews remained at the scene until 6 a.m. this morning. One hour later, he said they returned to “overhaul” the roof of the Ethan’s Café/The Angry Bean building.
He said it had 10 or 12 different layers of roofing material, which is covered with rubber roofing. Kling said all the wood was burnt out underneath it, which required a lot of “hand work” by firefighters to get it pulled down with rubber burning and melting.
According to Kling, approximately 13 – 15 tenants lived in the second-floor apartments of these North Third Street buildings. He said to his knowledge, there weren’t any injuries reported as a result of the fire.
Kling thanked everyone who assisted at the scene during the fire. The American Red Cross is assisting the affected families.