West Mifflin fire crews responded early Tuesday to a fire at the site of the former Century III Mall.
An Allegheny County alert sent at 7:10 a.m. said the fire was in the walls above the food court area on the third floor.
West Mifflin borough police chief Gregory McCulloch said the fire was out by 9:40 a.m.
“The fire started on the third floor in one of the vacant store fronts,” he said. “Now, they’re just trying to clear out the smoke and see if there is any other damage.”
Initial reports of multiple fires were actually just one fire, he said.
“When we arrived, the smoke was so dense that it was hard to see,” he said. “After we got things figured out, we realized it was in one of the storefronts on the top floor. They quickly put it out, and now they’re just trying to get the smoke out and make sure the fire doesn’t restart.”
The cause of the fire is not yet clear, he said, and the fire marshal and police detectives are investigating.
The level of damage inside was also yet to be determined.
“We are not sure. The mall is closed, but they actually still have employees who work here,” he said. “They are in and out of the mall all day long. We won’t know until they can clear the smoke. We’re hoping it is just confined to the one storefront, but we’ll see going forward.”
McCullogh emphasized that the mall is generally not safe for people to enter.
“It’s very unsafe,” he said. “Nobody should go in that mall.”
West Mifflin Borough council member Dan Davis said the situation is “bad.”
“We thought we had a buyer for this, and then that fell through,” Davis said while observing the scene. “Menards was going to buy this, and then it just fell through probably about two or three weeks ago. This has been an eyesore for us, so, to see this happen again, it’s not good.”
Davis said the conditions in the abandoned mall were not safe even before the fire.
“It’s very bad in there, condition-wise,” he said. “There’s so much mold, asbestos, it’s a health hazard in there.”
The mall closed in 2019.
Related:
• June 22, 2019: Century III Mall will be demolished, redeveloped into mixed-use site
• Feb. 6, 2019: Century III Mall deemed ‘unsafe and uninhabitable’
• Aug. 5, 2020: Century III Mall’s JCPenney to close
