WEST ALIQUIPPA, Pa. — Firefighters from several companies were called to a fire at a garage on 3rd Street in West Aliquippa just before 1 p.m. Tuesday.
They arrived in six minutes and had water on the fire two minutes later.
“When fire crews arrived, there was a multitude of antique collectable older-model vehicles that were in various stages of restoration that were on fire inside the building upon arrival,” said Aliquippa Fire Chief Timothy Firich.
Ronald Marsolo, who owns the garage, has five classic cars inside. He’s been collecting the antiques for decades.
“I just like ‘em,” Marsolo said. “I just like cars.”
He went out to the garage to start them up in the cold weather and went back into the bar he owns across the street to get coffee.
“I went back over, the Chevelle was burning!” Marsolo said.
He said the fire started in the 1968 Chevelle and quickly started to spread.
“It went real quick, I’ll tell you that,” he told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek. “I tried to get it out, but it was too much.”
Of the cars inside, at least two of them had significant damage.
“The remaining vehicles are probably going to require some work but are salvageable,” Firich said.
Marsolo said he and his son are working with the car insurance company. He said it’s sad, especially since he’s had the Chevelle for more than 20 years.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “I just got them all running good, perfect.”
The fire chief said the building has just minor damage.
A fire hydrant was frozen, but he said firefighters didn’t have much of an issue getting the fire out.
“We were able to make corrections to that and located another hydrant just a couple hundred feet away, so that did not pose a major problem, other than walking in the snow today,” Firich said.
No one was hurt.
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