Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(TNS)
Jan. 20—Five firefighters, including two who fell through the roof of a house, were injured Saturday during a fire that struck three residences in Homestead.
The first call for what became a five-alarm fire came in at 9:27a.m., for a house at 246 East 17th Ave. at the corner of McClure Avenue. Firefighters arrived on scene at 9:36 a.m.
The five firefighters who were injured all were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, said Matt Brown, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services. Eight residents were displaced but apparently were not injured, he said.
The fire was declared to be under control at 1 p.m. after firefighters spent hours hosing down the flames, which spread to two adjacent buildings that contained apartments. At one point, firefighters used a chainsaw to cut away a wall on the second floor to reach the flames inside one of the apartment buildings.
Chief Brown said firefighters were hampered by temperatures in the teens and winds up to 20 mph that froze water lines. Fire companies from throughout the area that responded to the blaze had to get creative, Chief Brown said.
"Luckily, with the gridded tightness of this neighborhood, there are a lot of fire hydrants to choose from," he said. "So they've had to go to some other extents to other places to get their water supplies."
It was so cold that some fire hoses froze solid, to the point that they couldn't be coiled up as firefighters completed their work, the chief said.
The home where the fire began belongs to a woman who would not provide her full name to reporters but said she had owned it for 24 years. She said she and her 30-year-old daughter were not home and that their pet dog and cat died in the blaze.
The house is in a tightly packed neighborhood of frame and brick homes, some of which appeared to be vacant. Neighbors watched from their porches, some providing hot coffee to firefighters. One woman went to a nearby Target store and brought back handwarmers for emergency personnel.
Mr. Brown estimated that 100 firefighters, many of them volunteers, battled the blaze. Such a large response is crucial in cold weather, he said, to ensure that personnel are rotated frequently out of the cold.
"These are people that dropped what they were doing at 9:30 in the morning, ran to the station and got their gear and headed to the scene," he said. "It was a very quick response time, and very good work with all the crews under extreme conditions and cold."
Chief Brown said the county fire marshal's office would investigate the blaze.
"There's a lot of work still to be done and a lot of cleanup," he said, adding, "Keeping in mind that the next call could come in at any minute."
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