A fire late Tuesday ripped through a South Hills-based kitchen and bathroom remodeling center that’s been serving Western Pennsylvania for more than half a century

Owners of Patete Kitchen and Bath Design Center in Scott say the setback shouldn’t affect existing customers.

The blaze and fast-paced effort to extinguish it destroyed Patete’s workshop space and caused severe water damage to the adjacent showroom along Route 50 in Scott.

Nobody was in the building when the fire broke out around 11:30 p.m., according to the company’s owners and emergency officials. Crews arrived to find flames shooting through the roof, which partially collapsed.

No one was seriously injured, though at least one firefighter was treated briefly for heat exhaustion at the scene.

Fortunately, according to the owners, customers and their orders should not be impacted because their products are stored in a separate warehouse.

“Our showroom is going to be closed for a period of time, but all of our installs we’re going to be able to do,” said Barry Erenrich, Patete’s vice president and general manager. “Our employees, our people, everybody is chipping in to do what we can and we’re going to be there for all of our customers moving forward.”

Erenrich thanked firefighters and police for their rapid response. Volunteers with the Salvation Army showed up to provide drinking water to first responders.

“They did everything that they could, they got here as fast as possible,” Erenrich said. “They saved as many files as they could so we could stay operating as a business. We owe so much, just a debt of gratitude to them.”

The incident prompted employees and residents to stop by the parking lot next door on Wednesday to check out the damage.

“It’s sad, the damage looks pretty bad,” said Jim Gaetano of Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, who surveyed the remnants of the collapsed roof, charred wood and shattered glass while heading to lunch next door at the Gab & Eat diner, where talk buzzed of the fire. “It’s just shocking.”

Jim Enrietti of Collier saw television news reporting showing flames shooting out from the building near the restaurant he frequents before checking it out for himself.

“I got up early in the morning and I said, ‘Holy heck, the place burned down,’” Enrietti said.

“They’ve been here forever. They have a great reputation,” said Jim Enrietti, recalling the 61-year-old company’s original owner Nino Patete, who died in 2013 at age 79. “I’m sure they’ll probably rebuild.”

Patete Kitchen & Bath Design Center’s roots date to 1960, with the company relocating to the Carnegie area in 1989. The center offers design, furnishing and installation services for all aspects of kitchen and bathroom renovations.

The showroom underwent a renovation that took more than a year and was completed in summer 2019.

No further information was available regarding how the fire broke out. Scott’s fire chief could not be reached.

Officials continue to investigate the cause.

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