A once-thriving center of dance and movement, the former Ruby Daugherty and Sherry's School of Dance, has succumbed to flames with footage captured Monday evening showing its structure penetrated by fire along Brownsville Road in South Park Township. The historical site, now an empty building remembered for an internationally recognized baton twirling team, caught the attention of its former community as the flames swiftly devoured its roof and structure, as reported by WPXI.
Local residents bore witness to the incident that attracted a significant gathering, drawing the public's eye and concern, “I saw it from my house half a mile away,” said resident Roy Ankrom, expressing his proximity to the blaze, another resident, Laura Tobin, reported seeing smoke from a similar distance, revealing her observations to WPXI by stating, “It’s been on fire consistently” in the same night. The intensity of the flames not only captivated onlookers but also called for extensive firefighter efforts, as they tackled the fire from different angles, efforts that led to a temporary transformation of Brownsville Road into a waterway as firefighters combated the fire for more than two hours.
There were no reported injuries as the building had been deemed empty before the firefighting operations, according to the Library Volunteer Fire Company. The prolonged abandonment of the property, estimated to be about three years, further compounds the community's surprise and desire for answers regarding the conflagration, with the Allegheny County Fire Marshal currently tasked with identifying the cause of the fire, as detailed by CBS News.
