HAZLETON - Fire destroyed a garage and its contents early Sunday morning in the city.

As firefighters battled the fire, they also witnessed a fight that sent one male to a hospital.

Flames were already burning completely through the garage on West Spruce Street near Linden Court around 1:50 a.m. when Hazleton firefighters were dispatched there for a fire. The garage is to the rear of 469 W. Broad St.

The fire had already spread to a utility pole in front of the garage by that time, melting telephone and cable lines and cutting off customers' service.

The fire is still under investigation, according to Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Jones.

Jones said it took a while for firefighters to extinguish the fire due to a storage section in the garage's ceiling.

Zeiners drug four vehicles out of the structure with a wrecker while they were still hot from the fire and while the garage was still burning, Jones said.

Meanwhile, he said, center support beams in the structure became compromised from the flames eating at the frame and the garage appeared as if it would collapse.

A thick funnel of smoke drifted away from the garage as firefighters actively battled the fire, Jones said, and was visible in the 600 block of Grant Street. Firefighters were called to that neighborhood to investigate a report of smoke in the area when they deduced it was actually smoke from the garage and not a separate incident.

Broad Street, between the Hazleton Shopping Center and Vine Street, was closed to traffic so firefighters could access hydrants to battle the garage fire, on the south side of Broad Street.

Jones said while firemen were at the hydrant across Broad Street from Club WOW, he said one male punched another male, who fell to the ground before hitting a rock wall outside the club.

That firefighter used his county radio to dispatch Hazleton police to the area for the assault.

City offic ers, along with other local police responded but in the meantime Hazleton firefighters ran over to the assault as other people began kicking the male who was punched as he was laying on the ground.

One male was taken to a hospital for treatment of unknown injury, Jones said.

Also, as Hazleton firefighters battled the garage fire, West Hazleton Fire, which was on stand-by to handle additional emergency calls, responded to 533 Cleveland St., on the east end of Hazleton at 3:54 a.m.

Originally the emergency was dispatched as a house fire, Jones said, but when crews arrived they found an oil burner backed up, causing the home, between First and Second streets, to fill with carbon monoxide.

Firefighters shut down the heater and ventilated the residence, he said, while two adults and two children were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Firefighters eventually left the garage after 4 a.m., Jones said.