Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline spoke to the press on Monday outside Fire Station 1 on N 6th Street.
Fire affects everyone, from the regular city resident all the way to top lawmakers, explained Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline.
Yesterday, the commonwealth’s top official, Gov. Josh Shapiro, faced a weekend arson fire at the Governor’s Mansion. Enterline addressed the incident at a press conference on Monday.
“It put not only the first family of Pennsylvania, the firemen of the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire, but every Pennsylvanian on watch and in awe of how quickly the scope of that fire escalated and that we could have a fire of such substance in our historic Governor’s Mansion,” he said.
Cody Balmer, 38, of Penbrook, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary and terrorism in the attack. According to the charging documents, he climbed the fence and broke into the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion, throwing in “Molotov cocktails” that set the building on fire. The piano and dining rooms sustained most of the fire damage.
Enterline said that the fire bureau responded to the scene around 2 a.m. on Sunday after a Pennsylvania State Police officer on site called 9-1-1.
“It was a very surreal scene when I got there, seeing fire coming from the Governor’s Mansion,” he said.
The firefighters had to cut open gates outside the mansion to get hoses to the building and had to force entry into the building to begin fire extinguishing efforts.
Enterline said that, very shortly after they arrived, he had a feeling that this could be a case of arson, and called in arson investigators from PSP to preserve the crime scene.
The firefighters were able to contain the fire within about half an hour. Luckily, he said that the main doorways were closed between the affected rooms and the rest of the main house, which helped contain the flames. If that door wasn’t closed, the incident would have been much worse, he said.
“It would’ve been a totally different fire and a totally different outcome most likely had that door not been closed,” Enterline said.
In a separate press conference on Sunday, Shapiro heaped praise on the performance of the city’s fire bureau.
“I want to thank Harrisburg Fire and their chief, who was personally on the scene and spent time with me and my family,” Shapiro said. “He and the other firefighters from Harrisburg ran toward danger to help keep us safe and in quickly putting out the fire.”
Enterline added that the building did not have a fire suppression system, but did have fire alarms. He said that he hopes a fully functioning sprinkler system will be installed in the mansion during the renovations. He expects a rebuild to cost millions of dollars, considering the damage to the building, the historic artifacts and the paintings.
The Historic Harrisburg Association issued a statement on Monday, offering to help in renovation efforts.
“The Historic Harrisburg Association is deeply saddened about the recent arson attack on the PA Governor’s Residence, and we support Governor Shapiro and his family during this difficult time,” the statement said. “We continue to stand by our longtime friends at both the Governor’s Residence and Department of General Services and are willing to lend any and all support for the restoration and preservation of this beloved Harrisburg architectural landmark.”
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