A fire early this morning destroyed the Slice of Athens pizza parlor and pub, at 29 South Washington Street in the Greene County village of Athens.
The fire also destroyed some phone lines, as well as a fiberoptic cable that supplies cable television and internet to much of Columbia County. According to the Facebook page of Mid-Hudson Cablevision, the company that owns the cable, a crew is working at the site now, and the company is hoping to restore service soon.
Some Greene County phone service was also affected by the fire. According to John Farrell, director of the Greene County Department of Emergency Services, both the county office building in Catskill and the Catskill Central School District have been affected by phone outages, and service has not yet been restored.
"The report that I have been given says it will be put back into service as soon as possible. There are crews working there now," said Farrell. "Hopefully this afternoon it will be up and running."
A dispatcher at Columbia County 911 said that the county's 911 service had not been affected by the fire.
Athens Fire Department assistant chief Adam Greco said that his department was called in shortly after 5am.
"It was fully involved when we got there," said Greco. "We had the fire under control within an hour and a half."
Greco said the building was a total loss. No other buildings were harmed.
Also responding were the West Athens and Catskill Fire Departments. The Leeds and Coxsackie Fire Departments were on standby.
Greco said that the Greene County Cause and Origin Team was investigating, and that no cause of the fire had yet been determined.
