A Paradise Township tractor and engine repair shop was heavily damaged Friday in an early morning fire.

About 10 fire companies and 75 firefighters battled the stubborn blaze at Smucker Repair, 94 Summit Hill Road, in frigid temperatures.

VIDEO: Fire hits tractor and engine repair shop

The fire was one of more than a half-dozen incidents, including two chimney fires, that kept firefighters moving Friday.

"We always say, 'Tis the season,'" said White Horse Fire Company Deputy Chief John Beyer, who helped fight a chimney fire in Salisbury Township.

"It's the first cold snap, and people are going to fire up their wood stoves and get them hot. If the chimney isn't clean, it's going to burn the creosote out. It seems to be going around the county."

• Lancaster city firefighters battled a small chimney fire Friday morning and responded to another building that filled with smoke after occupants left food in an oven. They also responded to a trash bin fire at Fruitville Pike and Orchard Street on Friday afternoon.

• In East Hempfield Township, firefighters were called to Consolidated School of Business after smoke filled a classroom there Friday morning.

• In Columbia, firefighters responded to an apartment building at Chestnut and North Third streets, where a dryer caught fire at about noon, causing about $1,000 in damages.

In the Paradise Township fire, the tractor and engine repair shop sustained almost $100,000 in damages, Strasburg fire Chief Rick Wentz said.

The owner of the business, Elam Smucker, said the fire started near a wood stove inside the shop. Wentz said the stove could have caused the fire.

Smucker's neighbors were the first to notice the fire and knocked on his door just after 6 a.m. to tell him they saw flames and smoke coming from the rear of the shop, which is behind Smucker's home.

Firefighters used a ladder truck to fight the fire. They had to ferry water from a hydrant about two miles away, at Little Beaver Road and Route 896.

Lights flashing, a steady stream of tankers transported the water from the hydrant to the site, dumping their load into a portable tank, where it was  pumped into hoses.

Firefighters faced other challenges as well.

Temperatures dipped into the teens and gray smoke poured from the repair shop, obscuring the sky at times, as firefighters battled the fire.

"Every time we got it knocked down, it flared back up," Wentz said, noting that firefighters heard several explosions from inside the building.

Ice quickly formed around the tankers as they filled the portable tank. Township employees came out to salt the area.

A fire police officer slipped and fell on ice near the hydrant but declined medical attention.

Also, a haz-mat crew put booms around the fire site to prevent any chemical runoff from the shop from getting into a nearby stream.

Some engines and a tractor were inside the shop at the time of the fire, said Smucker, who has operated his business since 1984. He, his son and a full-time employee work there.

He said the shop's roof and some of its walls would need to be replaced.  He plans to rebuild as soon as possible.

The Salisbury Township chimney fire occurred in a home at Spring Garden Road and the Pequea Creek. The chimney was connected to a wood stove inside the house.

Beyer said the house sustained about $1,000 in damages. The owner used a fire extinguisher on the fire before firefighters arrived, he said.

In the city, Battalion Chief Jeffrey Oatman said, firefighters responded to a chimney fire in the 500 block of High Street just before 5 a.m. There was no damage to the inside of the home, just some cracked concrete blocks on the chimney.

The homeowners had been using their wood stove for the past few days, he said. They said they had the chimney cleaned in the spring.

City firefighters also responded to smoke in a building at Juniata and South Lime streets. The building houses a corner store, Balan Mini Market, and two upstairs apartments.

Battalion Chief Duane Hagelgans said someone in the building left food in an oven overnight, which let off a heavy smoke.

There was smoke damage in the store, which was closed until the health  department and housing department could inspect it and it could be cleaned.

In East Hempfield, several fire companies responded to a report of smoke at Consolidated School of Business, 2124 Ambassador Circle.

There was no fire, said Patricia Marcus, vice president of administration for the school.

"It was just one of our air-conditioning and heating units that had a motor that was burning out," she said.

The building was evacuated and the school, which has about 100 students, canceled classes for the day.

cstauffer@lnpnews.com