Recent Incidents
Truck And Engine Assist At Maple Grove Mill Fire
By
Nov 24, 2005 - 3:00: AM

Lancaster Township Fire Police were first to be dispatched to assist West Lancaster Fire Department at the Maple Grove Mill at 3:00 a.m. for a building fire.

Lancaster Township Truck 6-6 was dispatched as the second due truck at 3:04 a.m. and Engine 6-6-2 at 3:26 a.m.

Truck 6-6 in master stream operation

Fire destroyed Lancaster County's oldest grist mill early Thanksgiving morning, November 24.

West Lancaster Fire Department first responded to the blaze that broke out about 2:30 a.m. at Maple Grove Mill, Stone Mill Road and Columbia Avenue in Manor Township.

Engine 6-6-2 connected to the hydrant in front of Stone Mill Plaza and supplied Engine 7-6-2 (West Hempfield Twp Fire and Rescue) at the fire scene in the parking lot of Boas Produce

Deputy Chief Penn Shelley said the building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. There were no injuries.

Shelley said firefighters worked cautiously as they extinguished the blaze at the vacant stone building.

LTFD Firefighters Mark Clair and Eric Sheetz extinguish burning trusses that collapsed to the ground floor of the barn.

"We planned to work the fire defensively because there was a risk the building would collapse," Shelley said.

Firefighters also protected surrounding properties as the building burned, especially Boas Garden Center, which is across Columbia Avenue from the mill.

"We had to protect Boas from the hot embers," Shelley said. "We put an engine in their parking lot and used water on their roof."

Haz Mat Technicians LT. Jason Wenginroth, Jerry Lobianco and Haz Mat Chief Ryan Miller tested the water in the Little Conestoga Creek for contaminates from the water runoff.

About 50 firefighters from a dozen fire companies responded to the blaze. Firefighters worked for about three hours to put it out.

The cause of the fire has not been determined and is still under investigation.

The blaze closed Stone Mill Road and Columbia Avenue for about six hours.

Firefighter Bob Silknetter at the pump panel of Engine 6-6-2

Rita Byrne, of the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster, was shocked to learn of the fire.

"Anytime you lose that kind of building, it's devastating," Byrne said. "This is very sad. Hopefully, in the future, we're going to be more careful with our historical treasures."

The mill has had a long and complex history.

Robert Ecklin of Ecklin Development Corp. bought the mill from Lancaster Township in 2001 for $1. According to newspaper reports, Ecklin hoped to renovate the mill and lease it as office space and/or retail shops.

Refurbishing the mill was part of a project spearheaded by Lancaster Township officials to make improvements to Maple Grove Park.

The township had previously spent more than $5,000 to clean up the interior of the building and stabilize the main support beams. The building, however, was still in need of additional repair.

A log mill originally built by Hans Brubaker some time between 1717 and 1730 first occupied the site.

After the log mill was destroyed by fire, Johannes and Barbara S. Steiner, who lived in Abbeville Mansion on Columbia Avenue, built the grist mill in 1767, which was known as Abbeville mill.

In the 1890s, Aaron H. Summy purchased the mill and adjoining land east of the Little Conestoga Creek, operating the property under the name West End Park. Summy is believed to have planted the many maple trees in the area of the mill.

In 1912, Ralph W. Coho Sr. purchased the property and turned it into an amusement park that included a 1.5 million-gallon swimming pool.

In the 1950s, the Coho family sold the amusement park, and the pool and its surrounding land was sold in 1978 to Christ and Elaine Hampilos.

In 1986, the Hampilos sold the 7-acre pool area to Lanecor Associates, the developer of Stone Mill Plaza Shopping Center. To comply with the zoning variance it acquired with the land, Lanecor continued to operate the pool through 1988, when it closed.

Financial hardship fell upon Lanecor, and, in its 1993 bankruptcy adjudication, a holding company called Ohio-Pennsylvania Properties II signed the pool and surrounding property over to Lancaster Township in return for forgiveness of unpaid real estate taxes.

© Copyright 2004 by Lancaster Township Fire Department