Small fire extinguished at former Martin Shirt plant
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Firefighters at the scene of a structure fire on Abbatoir Road on April 15, 2024.
SHENANDOAH – A long-abandoned garment factory building in town had minor damage after a small fire around midday Monday.
Firefighters were called to the area of 300 South Market Street — the neighborhood behind Burger King — around 1pm for a reported house fire.
Crews arrived to find a small fire burning at the east entrance to the Martin Shirt Co. factory off Abbatoir Road.
Shenandoah firefighters made quick work of the fire, containing damage to the building to an exterior wooden stairwell.
No injuries were reported and the fire remains under investigation.
The Martin Shirt Co. plant has sat abandoned since its 1996 closure. Daniel Saluta owned the company and had announced plans in late 1995 to sell the plant and keep its 55 employees. A month later, those plans were scrapped, the plant was closed, and 55 people were out of a job.
Saluta — through Martin Blouse Co. Inc. — held onto the plant until 2004, selling it for just $600 to Glenn Paterson, listed owner of other dilapidated, collapsing, or now-demolished properties in town. The plant has suffered the same fate.
Paterson passed away in 2019.
Monday’s fire was also not the first at the plant, either. Crews battled a small fire there in 2012.
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