An Avonmore bar was destroyed Saturday in a blaze that a fire official said might have started in the kitchen.

My Buddy’s Place, at 407 Indiana Ave., was open when the fire broke out shortly after 4:30 p.m., but no one was reported to be injured. A dog was unaccounted for.

Avonmore Assistant Fire Chief Jim Shaffer said it wasn’t clear what started the blaze, but he said it could have been a grease fire.

Fire Chief John Shaffer — Jim’s brother — said a state police fire marshal will investigate the cause.

John Shaffer said an excavator would be called to the scene Saturday night to pull the bar’s walls down so firefighters could extinguish the fire. That was expected to take hours, he said.

John Shaffer couldn’t recall another fire in the borough that required an excavator to pull walls down to extinguish it.

The building’s metal roof fell through the structure, making it more difficult to fight the fire, he said. The second floor caved in on the first floor.

“The metal roof makes it harder; it doesn’t burn off like shingles,” he said.

It was the third bar in Avonmore destroyed by fire in the past six years, joining Guy’s Tavern in September 2021 and the Avonmore Italian Club in December 2018.

Smoke and flames were billowing from the building, but no other buildings appeared to have been damaged. Gray and black smoke filled Avonmore’s skyline late into Saturday evening.

More than 30 fire companies from across the Alle-­Kiski Valley responded. Numerous surrounding streets were blocked off.

“It’s just crazy,” neighbor Brian McGuire said.

McGuire said he and his family got home from swimming about 4 p.m. and heard sirens shortly afterward.

“My mom called me and said the bar’s on fire,” McGuire said.

Neighbor Cheyenne Nipps was stunned by the large response to the fire.

“It’s a sad situation,” she said.

Neighbor Rick Tandaric of Westmoreland Avenue also was surprised by how big the fire was. He expressed sympathy for the bar owner.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Tandaric said. “We were coming home from a graduation party, and I was going to ride past it, figuring it would be out by then. It wasn’t.”

Longtime Avonmore resident Ray Skovenski was sad to hear the fire destroyed a bar he and his friends frequented when he was younger.

“I grew up in the place,” he said. “They let us hang out and shoot pool.”

Jim Monteli, who lives next door to the bar on Indiana Avenue, thinks the building, built in 1888, is one of the oldest in the borough.

Despite living next door, Monteli was not concerned because he said the firefighters’ response was amazing.

“These guys are worth their weight in gold,” Monteli said. “These guys are outstanding — and they’re volunteers, most of them. It’s amazing how fast they responded.”

Monteli said he was playing his piano when he heard sirens.

“I wasn’t the slightest bit worried when I came outside,” he said. “These guys know the job. They know their job more than most people do.”

Lou Corder of Indiana Avenue was working in his garage when he saw smoke.

“At one time, you couldn’t even see down there,” said Corder, who lives a few blocks away. “That’s how bad the smoke was.”

He was disappointed to learn the fire was at My Buddy’s Place.

“I had a lot of fun at that place. I had a blast there,” Corder said. “Now, we’ll have to find somewhere else to go.

“Quiet little town, it brings everybody down here to see what’s going on.”

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