Shortly after noon on February 1st, City of Pittsburgh 911 received several phone calls reporting a house on fire on Dresden Way near 53rd Street in the city's Lawrenceville section of the city. The first arriving fire units found a 2 story, 4 unit row house with heavy smoke pouring from the upper floors of one of the units and a 2nd alarm was soon requested.
The fire quickly spread through all 4 units as firefighters struggled to contain the fire in frigid cold conditions. It took several hours, and a total of 5 alarms to finally control the fire. One firefighter was transported to the hospital for minor burns to his face and was later released.
Officials say the fire appears to have started on the 2nd floor of a vacant unit and quickly spread to the adjoining homes through a common roof. Investigators are still investigating the cause of the fire but do say the fire appears to be suspicious. Several families, who lived in the adjoining homes were displaced. The American Red Cross is now helping those families.
This is the second 5 alarm row house fire the city had so far this year. Both started in vacant units consuming a total of 16 homes in both fires.
