Firefighters battle Pennsylvania jail blaze, all inmates out

SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) – Firefighters are working to contain a large fire at a Pennsylvania jail.

WNEP-TV reports all 208 Northumberland County Prison inmates were taken under heavy guard to a nearby church.

Dispatchers say the blaze was reported just after 2 p.m. Wednesday at the nearly 140-year-old jail in Sunbury, a city of 10,000 about 40 miles north of Harrisburg. Flames and thick smoke are shooting through the roof of the facility.

The cause of the fire is not known and it’s unclear whether there are any injuries.

The jail is a stone building with castle-like parapets. It sits a few blocks off the banks of the Susquehanna River.