Pottsville (PA) Fire - April 11, 1974 - Seiders Beer Hall - Yorkville Hose Film Archive

50 Years Ago...
4/11/1974 - STILL - 08:03 - Seider’s Beer Hall on Gordon Nagle Trail; Chief sent Yorkville, Greenwood Hill, Good Intent, and West End; Total loss.
The owner of the bar was in the 100-year old building with two patrons when, it was reported, a gas heater exploded. There were also two youths sleeping upstairs at the time. All escaped unharmed. Pottsville companies, along with the Cressona Fire Department, arrived to find the building heavily involved in fire. The building was destroyed with only one wall remaining standing when companies cleared before noon.
Interestingly, the owner’s son was charged with murder and aggravated assault for a shooting death that occurred at the bar on February 22 of that year. An argument began in the bar, which escalated with the son shooting and killing a Frackville man and wounding an Ashland man.
Vintage video courtesy of the Yorkville Hose Film Archive with some great fire apparatus footage - Yorkville ’67 Maxim, Good Intent ’58 Oren, Good Will Cressona arriving with the company’s 1970 Hahn, and even the Pottsville Lions Ambulance - along with some familiar faces.