photo by Stephanie Croston: Left: Seward firefighters use a ladder truck to attack the York fire from an alley on the southwest corner of the fire.

    The Seward Volunteer Fire Department helped fight a major fire in downtown York Oct. 20, taking its aerial truck to help combat the flames.
     Seward Fire Chief Dean Fritz said six members of the SVFD went to York-Fritz, Craig Abbott, Scott Brum, Lisa Cook, Mark Suhr and Mike VanDerslice. Jason Mifflin and Charlie Michon came later, Fritz said.
     The initial call to York's 911 came in around 1:15 p.m., according to the York News-Times. Fritz said the Seward department was called at 1:53 p.m.
     When the truck arrived in York, it went to the west side of the square and assisted at the southwest corner of the fire. The fire was on Fifth Street between Grant and Lincoln avenues.
     "We saw flames coming out of the roof. There was a heck of a lot of smoke," Fritz said, adding that they could see the smoke plume around Utica.
     The Seward truck stayed in York until around 8 p.m. The News-Times reported that approximately 1.4 million gallons of water was used to combat the fire, which destroyed four businesses.
     In addition to Seward's aerial truck, firefighters from Utica and Waco were also on-scene.
     York city officials met Oct. 22 with business and property owners to talk about relocating and starting anew after the fire devastated much of a downtown city block.
     "We will definitely rebuild," Mayor Greg Adams said after the meeting at Kilgore Library. "Our number one goal today is to address the owners' questions and concerns."
     State fire officials were on hand for the meeting. York Fire Chief Kevin Stuhr said at this point, there is no evidence to indicate that the fire was anything but an accident. Property damage was well over $1 million. However, the city's goal "is to get owners back in business as quickly as possible," Adams said.
     Fifth Street remained closed Oct. 23 between Lincoln and Grant Avenues, Stuhr said. It may be closed for some time for safety reasons. It may be necessary to wait until the east and north walls of the corner building have been demolished. Grant Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets is also closed and will be evaluated daily. In the meantime, the public should stay well away from any taped-off areas, he said.