Pennsylvania Man’s Body Found in Fire Debris

David E. Chaek could barely hold back tears as he looked across East Market Street at the smoking remains of Chaek’s Window, an ice cream stand his family operated from a window of their home in Blairsville for 35 years.

Chaek’s business and home were destroyed when a neighboring business, Sharon’s Restaurant and Lounge, caught fire on Wednesday night.

The body of Paul Eugene Tressler, 68, who lived at Morewood Towers Senior Apartments in the Indiana County borough, was pulled out of the smoldering rubble of the bar on Thursday morning.

The fire destroyed the bar, Chaek’s Window, and a neighboring apartment building where four families lived.

“I lived there 51 years, and my wife, Carol, and I operated out of that window for 35 years,” said Chaek, 61.

Chaek was grateful that he, his wife and his son David, 39, who lives above the ice cream shop, were not injured. He and David were working next door in his son’s photography and graphics studio when Carol ran in.

“An employee at the bar came running over to the house and said, “ËœYou’ve got to get out now. … Our walls and ceiling are on fire, and the fire is spreading.'” Chaek said.

Chaek said his son grabbed two fire extinguishers and ran into the bar, but the blaze was spreading quickly. Tressler was in the tavern when the fire started, Blairsville police Chief Michael Allman and Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman Jr. said.

Joe Koreni Jr., husband of restaurant owner Sharon Koreni, said he was in the business when a deep fryer in the kitchen overheated and boiled over. The flames quickly spread to the floors, walls and ceiling.

Koreni said he tried to douse the flames with an extinguisher, and a chemical suppression system above the fryer activated but was not enough to quell the flames. The suppression system “took the fire down to about 1 inch. It was almost out. But once it ran out of juice, the fire went right back up again.

“That grease fire, there’s no way to control it,” he said.

“It is unclear why Mr. Tressler did not exit the building,” Overman said.

Ab Dettorre, officer liaison with the Blairsville Fire Department, said the fire was a difficult challenge.

“Our station is only about a quarter mile away, and it was already going really good in just a matter of minutes when we started to arrive. The wood in there is just so old. … It burned so quick, there was nothing we could really do,” Dettorre said.

Paul Peirce is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Editor Jeff Himler contributed to this story.