Fire destroys Stroud Township auto body shop

Aug. 23--Roumen Kondouzov's wife woke him about 4 a.m. Friday in their home off Progress Street in Stroud Township, saying she had heard a loud noise.

"I came out to look around and saw the fire (at nearby Jim Weiss Auto Body Shop)," Kondouzov said. "My wife woke my son and told him to call 911."

About the same time, a Stroud Area Regional Police officer on patrol in the area heard a similar noise, discovered the fire and called 911, said auto body shop owner Jim Weiss.

"I was asleep at home when I got the call," Weiss said at the scene later Friday morning. "I rushed over here and saw fire trucks with hoses laid out all over the place."

Stroud Township, East Stroudsburg, Marshalls Creek, Shawnee and Stroudsburg fire companies responded to find flames had consumed much of the structure, Stroud Township Fire Chief Bruce Owens said.

A Monroe County native who has owned the body shop for 25 years, Weiss joined a group of relatives, friends and employees to survey the damage as motorists driving by paused to look Friday morning.

Weiss said none of his employees were at the body shop when the fire started. He had five full-time employees, including his son, and a part-time employee, his daughter.

"We've now got maybe a half-million in damages plus loss of income," he said, alternating between talking on his cellphone and shaking hands with or hugging people offering sympathy and support. "I'm waiting to hear back from my insurance company. I'm not completely sure what's covered and what's not."

Weiss had four or five of his own vehicles and eight customers' vehicles in the shop at the time of the fire. All of them, plus a ninth customer's vehicle on the back of a tow truck near the shop, were destroyed.

An employee at one point brought recovered vehicle keys in a plastic bag over and showed Weiss, who nodded.

"I have to figure out what to do about our employees," he said.

Kondouzov said the body shop recently fixed the bumper on his son's car.

"I have a friend who's gone there," he said. "They have a good reputation."

Owens said a state police fire marshal is investigating the fire's cause and point of origin, but said the fire didn't appear suspicious.

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