Fire causes light damage at Downtown church

A Mass scheduled for this morning at St. Mary of Mercy Catholic Church, Downtown, is expected to go on as scheduled, despite a small fire Thursday afternoon on the roof of a hallway connecting the church to an adjacent office building.

Two workers were slightly injured as they threw burning material from the roof into a large dumpster below.

The fire, which was reported just before 5 p.m., disrupted rush hour traffic along Stanwix Street and Third Avenue but was brought under control in less than 20 minutes, Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones said.

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, who lives at the church, said the roof between the two buildings is being replaced as part of a summer renovation project that also involves the office building roof.

“It’s basically an emergency exit for our auditorium,” he said of the walkway.

“There’s water in the hallway and you can smell the smoke everywhere, but I would call the damage light.”

Bridge on W. Ohio Street to be closed for part of day

The West Ohio Street Bridge in the city’s Allegheny West neighborhood will be temporarily closed today while crews from the city Public Works Department change the traffic pattern.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is requiring partial closure of the bridge, which crosses a Norfolk Southern Railway line, because of deterioration of the bridge trusses. The bridge is between Ridge Avenue and Merchant Street.

West Ohio Street traffic between Ridge and Merchant will be shifted to the northern side of the structure. The new pattern will remain in place indefinitely. The westbound lanes will be converted to accommodate two-way vehicle traffic; the eastbound lanes will be open only to bicyclists and pedestrians.

The intersections on West Ohio at Brighton Road and Merchant Street and the Ridge Avenue-Brighton Road intersection will be closed today during the restriping of the bridge area. Work is expected to conclude by midday.