PA Firefighters Suffer Heat Exhaustion During 5-Alarm Blaze

Meredith English says he didn’t even know the Bellevue apartment house in which he lives was on fire Friday morning until a neighbor burst through his door.

“I didn’t smell any smoke, didn’t know there was anything going on,” said English, 72, who lives in an attic apartment of the two-story apartment house in the 100 block of Grant Avenue.

“Then all of a sudden the guy from downstairs crashes through the door,” he said. “I have bad knees, so he grabbed me and carried me down the stairs and outside.”

English said he doesn’t know the name of the man who rescued him, but “I thank him for being there to help me.”

English said he will be staying with his daughter in Harmony, Butler County.

The Red Cross was dispatched to assist other residents with housing and other needs, authorities said.

The five-alarm fire, which was reported shortly before 8: 30 a.m., destroyed the five-unit apartment house. All the occupants who were at home escaped without injury, fire officials said.

A number of firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion — including one who was transported from the scene by ambulance.

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, but it appears to have started on the first floor and spread up the building through the walls.

“When I arrived on scene, which was only about two or three minutes after it was reported, there were flames shooting out the front door,” said Jack Davin, a lieutenant with the Bellevue Fire Department. “It didn’t take long for the fire to run its way up through the walls to the upper floors.”

Bellevue Assistant Fire Chief Glenn Pritchard said when fire companies began arriving, flames were visible from the first-floor windows and doors and the roof.

“It definitely got a little bit of a jump on us,” Pritchard told reporters, adding that the heat and humidity prompted the escalation to five alarms to summon additional firefighters to the scene.

After the bulk of the flames were extinguished, firefighters spent several hours dousing hot spots.

In addition to battling the elements, firefighters had difficulty working inside the structure because of its layout.

“A house like this that’s divided up into multiple apartments is a challenge,” Pritchard said. “It’s a challenge just getting around to find out what entrances leads to what parts of the building.”

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