Fire guts McCali Manor in Mt. Pleasant

Firefighters battled a blaze Wednesday afternoon that extensively damaged an apartment building and former restaurant in downtown Mt. Pleasant.

All seven of the occupants of the McCali Manor at 462 W. Main St. were accounted for after fire broke out shortly before 3 p.m., causing extensive damage.

No one was inside when the fire broke out, Mt. Pleasant police Officer Brice Joll said. A plume of flames was erupting from windows on the second floor when he arrived shortly after firefighters.

“Six minutes later, the whole roof was engulfed,” Joll said. “It was hot.”

A state police fire marshal was called in to investigate the fire’s cause.

Paul Harenchar, assistant Mt. Pleasant fire chief, said the flames quickly spread after shooting out a kitchen window.

“There are add-ons to these older structures, and fire gets in there and just rolls,” he said. “It goes fast.”

Between flames and water damage, Harenchar considers the building a total loss.

Firefighters initially attempted an interior attack, Harenchar said.

“But the roof caved in, and we had to get everybody out,” he said.

Jane Altman, who owns the building, said it was fortunate that an instructor for the ArtTEK for Teens program that is held in the building called off sick for the day. Otherwise, the after-school pilot program would have been in session at the time of the blaze.

Altman said she will seek a new home for the program.

“We are helping the high school kids to cross over into the technology world,” she said.

She said her tenants were staying at the apartment building while working on an area construction job.

Borough Councilman Rico Cholock, who chairs the public safety committee, said the displaced tenants indicated they were going to stay at a hotel for the night.

The historic building for many years served as the local Elks lodge. It had also housed a tavern.

It was constructed in four phases over more than 200 years. The first segment is thought to have stood on the town square during Gen. Edward Braddock’s march to Fort Pitt during the French and Indian War.

Dr. M.W. Horner added to the home in 1900, doubling its size. When the Horner family donated the home to the Elks Club in 1951, the Elks added a grand ballroom.

Altman acquired the building in 2009 and made her own renovations.

“I did everything I could to honor its history,” she said. “Now it’s all gone.”

“It’s heartbreaking for me to see that building like that,” Mt. Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey said. “It’s just sad.”