Arkville antique shop destroyed in fire

Photo from the scene posted on Facebook by the Fleischmanns Fire Department.

An early-morning fire destroyed an antiques and jewelry store on Route 28 in Arkville on Tuesday.

Local fire departments responded around 3:45am to the fire at Goldking Bennett Ace Bloom, at 45315 Route 28 just east of the hamlet, according to a post on Facebook by the Fleischmanns Fire Department.

Official information about the fire was not immediately available. Calls to several local fire departments were not returned, and neither the Delaware County Sheriff's Office nor the county Department of Emergency Services gave any information about the fire.

Contacted by phone, the business's owner, Bill Bloom, said that he did not know what had caused the fire. He found out about the fire around 6am, he said, when a Delaware County police officer called him.

"I'm with the investigators right now, they're sitting at my kitchen table," Bloom said.

Although the building was insured, Bloom said, the contents were not. The building was a total loss, he said.

"Antiques, silver, watches, tools, chainsaws. Loaded with stuff," Bloom said. "I was just getting ready to open it. I had just done the grounds, mowed it and started to open it up inside. And now this."

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