Fire in over-55 community in North Wales, Pennsylvania, destroys clubhouse
NORTH WALES, Pa. (CBS) – Cell phone video captured a beloved clubhouse going up in flames just after 5:30 a.m. Wednesday in the heart of the Village of Neshaminy Falls, a senior community.
Sue Revack's dog Ralphie alerted her to the chaos.
"My dog started to wake me up. I looked out and I could see all the fire trucks flying in here," she said.
Revack soon learned what was happening just outside her home.
"Ralphie and I went out and a neighbor stopped in his car and said, 'The clubhouse is on fire,'" Revack said.
Revack said she thought about all her neighbors living behind the burning clubhouse.
Emergency crews were on the scene around 5:30 a.m. responding to the fire, which burned for about three hours. Fire companies from several surrounding towns responded.
In many spots, the building's roof is gone. The remaining walls appeared scorched.
No homes were damaged, and there were no injuries, Montgomery Township Fire Chief Bill Wiegman said.
Firefighters tried to put out the two-alarm fire from the inside, Wiegman said.
"But crews made it inside and started getting set and put water on the fire and then the roof started to collapse," he said.
Wiegman pulled his firefighters out. Thankfully, no one was injured. However, he said the loss of this structure is hitting these neighbors especially hard.
"We are in this community a lot doing smoke-detector installations, and we come to the clubhouse and do fire safety seminars, and we know this is the heart and soul of their community," Wiegman said.
Sam Mitchell lives in the village and said this clubhouse brought his neighbors together.
"The clubhouse had pool tables, shuffleboard, a library, and it was really nice inside," Mitchell said.
Despite the fire, Mitchell said he is encouraged by how everyone is offering to open up their home to keep the activities on schedule that were once held inside the clubhouse.
"I'm sure a lot of people welcome people coming into their homes for the activities," he said. "I would."
Phyllis Neal also said she is devastated at the loss of the clubhouse in her community.
"This is my clubhouse, it just burned down and I'm very upset because that means a lot to us," Neal said. "It is a big thing over here, we're here 24/7 every day. There's something always going on, if it ain't playing cards, it's the gym, exercise room. Just meetings, cards every day, bingo on Thursday and trips all the time. It's just so sad that it's gone."
As workers fenced off what was left of this clubhouse, Wiegman said firefighters will continue to comb through the rubble so they can find the exact cause of this fire.
The Village of Neshaminy Falls is on Stump Road in North Wales, Pennsylvania, not to be confused with Neshaminy Falls in Bucks County, 30 minutes away.
