Fire Destroys East Carnegie Flooring Business

An early-morning building fire destroyed the Mike Jones Floor Company business on Noblestown Road in East Carnegie. 

Fire crews from in Scott Township and several other departments were alerted shortly before 6 a.m. and battled the blaze for more than three hours. 

Firefighters initially went into a defensive position while battling the blaze in the flooring business located at 235 Noblestown Road because of the amount of flammable glue and construction materials, East Carnegie fire Chief Adam Kauer said. He said those materials “fed the fire” before the rear of the structure collapsed.

However, firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to the neighboring Chartiers Valley Self-Storage facility and a nearby vacant structure. No one was injured and no firefighters needed medical attention at the scene.

Witnesses report the fire started in the rear of the two-story building and spread to a garage area. Kauer did not immediately know the cause of the fire, but said the Allegheny County fire marshal is at the scene investigating.

Michael Jones Jr., whose father owns the flooring business, said the building appeared to be a total loss and the workers were now focusing on saving as much equipment as possible.

“It doesn’t look like we’re be able to save any tools,” Jones Jr. said. “A lot of the (flooring) material is gone.”

Jones said his father opened the business in 1986 and employs 10 workers.

“We haven’t thought about it yet,” Jones Jr. said of restarting the business. “First, we’ll see what we can save.”

Firefighters were able to save one precious memento from inside the first floor office. A stuffed black bear was pulled from the building unharmed. He doesn’t have a name, Jones Jr. said, but workers joked they might have to name him Smokey after the Tuesday morning fire.

Jeremy Ackman, who lives across Duncan Way from the business, said he and his sister, Katie, were awakened to smoke shortly before 6 a.m. They called emergency dispatchers and watched as the fire spread from the rear of the building to the rest of the structure.

“(The flames) weren’t 60 feet high or anything, but it was definitely intense,” Ackman said.

Noblestown Road was closed between Duncan Way and Bell Avenue for most of the morning.

Several other local fire companies, including Bower Hill, Glendale, Kirwan Heights, Heidelberg, Green Tree, Crafton and Pittsburgh, were called to the scene to assist East Carnegie firefighters.

A hazardous materials clean-up crew and the state Department of Environmental Protection also were brought to the scene because of the building materials, although Kauer said he doesn’t think they posed a danger to people living across Noblestown Road.

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