Dec. 14--Tenants who lived at 3639 Bethoven St. in Polish Hill tried to remain optimistic Wednesday night as they watched firefighters clean up after the four-alarm blaze that tore through part of their building.
"At least it's clean," Diane Weaver said, noting that her silver car got a thorough washing when firefighters doused the building.
Another tenant, Michael Palazzolo, smiled while recalling how his father joked that he could now buy him anything for Christmas -- Mr. Palazzolo expected that he'd lost almost everything in the fire.
Emergency dispatchers received a call at 4:29 p.m. for a fire in the century-old building owned by Wylie Holdings.
Ms. Weaver, a 28-year-old graduate student at Robert Morris University, said she was studying for a pediatric nursing exam when she smelled smoke in her apartment and heard a car driving down the Bloomfield Bridge start honking.
She said most of the smoke appeared to come from the apartment directly above hers, one on the second level of the three-story building. Some tenants watched as flames grew out of the building's roof and teams of firefighters rushed to the scene.
It took nearly an hour and a half for the firefighters to douse the last of the flames.
Assistant fire chief Thomas Cook said it was too early Wednesday night to determine what caused the fire. A fire investigator said Wednesday night that the blaze did not appear to be suspicious.
Chief Cook said no one was injured in the fire. The Red Cross was called to help tenants who needed a place stay.
Liz Navratil: [email protected] or 412-263-1438
