A Harrison pool store that burned to the ground three weeks ago has reopened about a mile down the road in Freeport.

Country Pools & Spas is up and running in a shop that formerly housed Classic Tent Rentals at 1179 Butler Road.

“I didn’t know how long it would take to get it all pulled together at our old spot,” owner John Placek said.

“This came about, so I jumped on it.”

Placek owns three Country Pools locations.

It was mid-afternoon Nov. 22 when his Freeport Road site caught fire and quickly became engulfed. The catastrophic scene drew firefighters from more than a dozen departments and caused an evacuation of a nearby senior living home because of possible exposure to fumes from chemicals stored in the building.

The cause of the fire was determined to be electrical, Placek said.

“There were propane tanks in there that exploded, and I’m just glad that nobody got hurt,” Placek said.

The blaze destroyed more than $1 million in inventory.

Placek originally hoped to reopen by March but heard the site in Freeport was available.

“It just worked out,” he said.

Placek sprung into action and was able to pull supplies from his two other locations to quickly fill the new space.

In the meantime, he has a contractor ready to start reconstruction of his Harrison store but said that, depending on the delay in getting a building permit from Allegheny County, he might decide to stay put.

“I might decide to sell that property,” he said. “It’s a prime location.

“If it’s going to take a year to get started, then I might just spruce this place up.”

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