July 30--Dozens of Pittsburgh firefighters swarmed into the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh's commercial district this afternoon to battle afire at the old Macy's department store, which led to the closure of parts of Smithfield Street and surrounding streets.
Although the fire callout reached six alarms, smoke but no flames could be seen coming from the vacant building in the 400 block of Smithfield.
The blaze started in a basement electrical vault and spread through an elevator shaft, public safety spokeswoman Emily Schaffer said.
The fire was under control by 3:30 p.m. and fully extinguished by 4:30 p.m., she said.
At least seven workers, including four doing demolition and one doing HVAC work, were in the building when the fire started.
The fire, reported about 1:30 pm, was initially designated a 3-alarm blaze because of the building's many floors. It was raised to a six-alarm fire because the first firefighters who arrived could not find the workers.
All got out safely and there were no injuries to civilians orfirefighters.
Richard Kunesky said he was at a street-level loading dock when he saw flickering light, heard a crash, and then saw smoke in an elevator shaft.
Walter Chubeck, on the eighth floor, also heard a noise that shook the building. He went downstairs to look for Mr. Kunesky and saw an orange glow.
Mr. Chubeck said he later went back in to help firefighters find their way around the maze-like building.
Some of the workers said they had been working in the building for about four months, while other crew are putting in windows and doing other construction work.
"They're building while we're demo-ing," Mr Kunesky said.
Today, he said, was an "overtime day" when workers finish up work started during the week. The workers said they'd been using the elevators all day.
Attorney Timothy Uhrich, who has an office in the adjoining Allegheny Building, said this was the second fire in the old Macy's building in recent months.
This time, he said, after the power went out, firefighters went through the building telling people to get out.
"I heard the pounding on the door and the yelling and they asked me why I was still here," he said.
Joe Smydo: [email protected] or 412-263-1548.
Copyright 2016 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
