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MARTINSBURG -- A contractor working on installing a gas boiler was killed in a fire that destroyed Bobcat of Martinsburg on Tuesday afternoon.
The man's identity and the company employing him were not immediately released. The Blair County Coroner's Office is investigating the cause of death, and the state police fire marshal is looking into the cause of the fire.
The fire caused the roof of the building at 3650 Cove Mountain Road to collapse.
Employees of the Blair County Oil and Supply gas station across the street said they saw the flames and immediately called 911.
Randy Acker, Martinsburg fire chief, and owner of the Bobcat building, said he got a call for a reported structure fire about noon.
"When we got here the fire had spread to the outside of the building and onto the roof," he said.
Acker said the fire happened above the showroom and where parts were kept in the store.
About 3:40 p.m., he said that fire crews were wrapping up, which included making sure all the hot fire spots were out.
One of the difficulties firefighters had was having only one access point to the roof.
"By the time the first department got here, it was too intense to get up there -- it wasn't very long after that the roof started to weaken and collapse," he said.
Acker said, at that point, it was not safe for any of the firefighters to be on the roof, and crews had to pull parts of the roof off to get to the fire.
He said the wind was also a problem as it pushed the flames through the building.
The firefighters' response was fairly quick even with it being during the day and everyone being at work when the fire occurred, Acker said.
Because there weren't any hydrants near the building, except for one at the top of the hill in Martinsburg, tanker trucks had to keep running back and forth to keep the portable water tank full in order to fight the flames on all sides of the structure.
Lance Morris, North Woodbury Township police chief, said the tanker trucks also got water from other hydrants further away and then brought it back.
Acker said the building is a total loss, and he is not sure how the business will move forward.
"We will have to find something; we will have to find another place temporarily," he said.
Acker said he was grateful to everyone who showed up to help and that there was a lot of manpower to handle the fire.
Martinsburg Pizza, water and Gatorade was supplied by volunteers.
Other fire companies that responded included: Roaring Spring, Freedom Township, Williamsburg, Blue Knob, Allegheny Township, Duncansville and Saxton.
Morris said that Spring Cove School District was notified and the buses were rerouted.
He also reported that no one else was injured.
Mirror staff writer Cati Keith is at 814-946-7535.