Easton Fire Chief: ‘Say a prayer’ for firefighter injured in major 3-alarm fire; power back on | Easton Area

EASTON, Pa. – A three-alarm fire at the Hotel Hampton in downtown Easton left one firefighter injured and 3,500 people without power Friday.

The fire is now under control, but the damage will take months to repair. 

Over 3,000 Met-Ed customers lost power in the city of Easton on Friday after a three-alarm fire at a multi-story building. 

According to Met-Ed’s outage map, up to 3,503 customers were without power. That is 26% percent of Met-Ed customers in Easton. 

As of 4:00 p.m. power has been restored by Met-Ed crews.

275 people were evacuated out of the Crayola Experience building, which lost power, according to a spokesperson for Crayola. 

Crayola will be closed for the rest of the day and plan to reopen on Saturday depending on the conditions of the downtown fire.  

The American Red Cross confirm that they have deployed Disaster Action Team volunteers to the scene.

One firefighter was injured during the incident, but the severity of their injuries is unknown at this time, according to officials.

Easton Fire Chief Henry Hennings said “have everybody say a prayer” in reference to the injured firefighter. 

3 civilians were removed from the building, fire officials said.

“When we did arrive, there were people hanging out of multiple windows. Front, back, and side. So we went into rescue operation right away to try to get those people out,” Hennings said. 

The State Theatre, which is located across the street from the location of the fire, has cancelled Friday night’s performance of “Riverdance 30” at the request of the Easton Fire Department, the city said. 

Flames broke out around 10:45 a.m. Friday in the 400 block of Northampton Street, according to Northampton County dispatchers.

Fire crews say that the fire started in the basement of the Hotel Hampton located at 462 Northampton Street.

Jayson Wagner | for WFMZ-TV

Heavy smoke poured out of the building, which includes a mix of business and residential uses. 

Crews struck three alarms to call more manpower to the scene. Fire companies from across the Lehigh Valley responded to the fire.

The Nancy Run Fire Company, which provided mutual aid to fire crews, said in a Facebook post that there were reports of occupants trapped in the building. 

Jayson Wagner | for WFMZ-TV

The city says the roadway near the fire is closed. People are asked to avoid the area, as well as the 400 block of Pine Street.

WFMZ-TV | Heather Beck

There’s no word on what sparked the flames.

Stay with 69 News while the story develops.