Pa. City Fire Chief Defends Tactics

Aliquippa firefighters were faced with a number of challenges.

Aug. 15, 2006

3 min read

Arnell Dorsett says firefighters could have saved her Aliquippa home this weekend, but they didn't.

Was the situation really that cut and dried?

Dorsett, the sister-in-law of former NFL star Tony Dorsett, is furious at the way the blaze was fought.

"I blame them for all of my losses," she told Call 4 Action reporter Aaron Saykin.

Investigators believe a homeless man accidentally started the fire, which spread to Dorsett's home. That complicated the situation for firefighters and added to Dorsett's frustration.

Her house was at the end of six connected units. All of the others were vacant, and two had been abandoned.

Instead of knocking down the fire inside one of the units, fire crews fought it from the outside with hoses.

Aliquippa Fire Chief Darryl Jones isn't apologizing for the approach his crews took.

"Was there a possibility we could have stopped the fire right then and there? Yes," Jones said. "But there was a greater possibility some firefighters could have died, in my estimation. So I didn't want to take that risk."

For years, both Jones and Dorsett shared a common fear about those abandoned homes. Dorsett worried that someone would start a fire inside, while Jones was concerned that he might have to send his people inside to fight it.

"Do you believe, given the circumstances, you fought it as aggressively as you could?" Saykin asked.

"Yes, I do," Jones said.

For Dorsett, all that remains is the saddest of realities.

"My house is gone. It's gone," she said.

Dorsett said the abandoned homes next to her had been condemned for years.

"If they had torn those houses down, there's no way that fire could have reached me," she said.

Call 4 Action tried to learn more about the homes from the city administrator but phone calls were not returned Monday.

In many cases, financially strapped municipalities simply cannot afford to tear down abandoned houses. The Armstrong County town of North Vandergrift is having similar problems.

Although it can be complicated and expensive for a city or township to tear down abandoned homes, it can be done with state help.

Last year, two state leaders representing Beaver County secured almost $2 million for that very purpose in the county, which now has a program that identifies and clears the worst properties.

Previous Stories: