OLD FORGE, PA — A massive early-morning fire destroyed a historic commercial property on Oak Street in Old Forge on Saturday, leaving a borough fixture that stood for roughly a century reduced to rubble.
Firefighters were dispatched around 1:00 a.m. to the building housing Lease Dry Cleaners—a neighborhood business operating in the community since the 1920s. The incident escalated into a multiple-alarm response after intense flames spread through the structure, causing a second-floor collapse and leaving the building damaged beyond repair. Heavy machinery was subsequently brought in to demolish the remaining unstable walls.
The blaze also disrupted utility service across the area, cutting electricity to approximately 2,000 neighborhood customers while emergency crews worked to extinguish the fire and secure overhead lines.
No injuries were immediately reported. The official cause and origin of the blaze remain under investigation by local and state fire investigators.
