Top Stories

Fire burns through family business in Hempfield Township

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A fire burned through a family business in Hempfield Township early Tuesday morning.

Flames were reported about 4 a.m. at Hutchinson & Gunter, a metal fabricating company on Grove Street.

Flames and smoke shot through the roof of the building as firefighters battled the blaze. No one was inside when the fire started, but one firefighter was taken to a hospital to have a minor injury checked out, officials said.

The business was started in 1949 by the late Ed Hutchinson, a longtime fire chief in Greensburg, after he returned from World War II. In 1966, Hutchinson’s businesses merged with another shop and moved to its current location.

Hutchinson’s sons, who are also firefighters, took over the business after his death in 2018. When the fire broke out Tuesday morning, they tried to save what they could.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.