College Pizza ravaged by second fire of year

and Brett Levinson A fire swept through College Pizza at 3925 Walnut St. at about 5:15 a.m. yesterday morning, only two months after the store reopened following a February fire at the Convenient Food Store next door, according to University Police Sergeant Michael Fink. Roni Birch, an employee of Superior Restoration Service, the company which was repairing the store last night, said the blaze began as an electrical fire. Pointing to a burned-out fuse box through the store's soot-blackened windows, Eric Yates, owner of Baskin Robbins, said he thought the fire was caused by faulty wiring from a 20-year-old electrical circuit panel. Yates, whose store is located directly across from College Pizza, said he does not believe the fire was caused by arson. He added that he felt bad for College Pizza owner Ulysses Lancellotti. Yates said Baskin Robbins suffered smoke damage from the fire because the air ventilation systems of the stores are linked. He said his store would have to replace its ceiling, which had been repaired after the February fire. Baskin Robbins was closed yesterday as employees cleaned the store. A sign on the door said the store would be open for business today. According to Birch, SRS will clean the College Pizza store "from head to toe," replacing blackened ceiling tiles, reconstructing a damaged wall near the back of the store and cleaning its soot-filled air ducts. SRS will also fix the building's damaged roof, he said. Early yesterday morning, firemen cut a hole in the store's roof to release smoke from the fire. Birch said that after insurance and safety investigators visit the site later this week, they could order additional repairs to bring the store into compliance with safety regulations. Usually, Birch added, store owners make an inventory of perishable items lost in fires for insurance claims. Last February, a fire started in the Convenient Food Store and spread next door to College Pizza, Baskin Robbins, the former AMC movie theater and the former MegaVideo. The Philadelphia Fire Department examined the convenience store after the fire and ruled it was caused by arson. College Pizza reopened in September following seven months of renovations. MegaVideo shut its doors for good after February's fire. Little additional damage was sustained by the Convenient Food Store yesterday, according to manager Amil Patel. But he said the store's opening, originally set for next week, will be delayed until December due to the fire. Next door to the darkened College Pizza, large fans ran in the lobby of CineMagic 3 to dissipate the smell of smoke. Charles Lyons, a CineMagic 3 employee, said the building "smelled real bad" when he arrived yesterday for his afternoon shift. But by last night, owner Andrew Sheppard said, the smell was limited to the lobby area. Both Yates and Sheppard said they were phoned by fire officials early yesterday morning.