July 31--One person died in a fire that erupted inside an apartment complex at 117 Curry Hollow Road shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, Pleasant Hills fire Chief Todd Pritchard said.
Emergency crews pulled the body from the Neopolitan Suites apartment where the fire is believed to have started, Pritchard said. Crews are waiting on a medical examiner to determine an official cause of death.
Neopolitan resident Karen Kayda O'Donnell, 51, said a single man lived in the apartment where the fire occurred. Neighbors are close in the complex, she said.
"Everybody pretty much knows everybody," O'Donnell said.
Firefighters said they were at the fire hall less than 2 miles away when the alarm sounded. Six crews responded, including Pleasant Hills, Whitehall, Brentwood and Mt. Oliver.
"I heard all the sirens," said Eric Friedline, 46, who lives next door. "I came out and saw mostly thick, black smoke coming from the corner apartment."
Eric McDevitt, 21, who moved into a neighboring building in November, said the sirens alerted him to the fire. No alarm sounded in his own building, he said, and power had yet to be restored.
Alvin Henderson, chief of Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services, said the fire was in the third-floor apartment of the rear bedroom area.
Stephanie Hacke and Michael Hasch are staff writers for Trib Total Media.
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