FIVE-ALARM FIRE
Firefighters rest after battling a blaze at an apartment building Saturday in West Oakland. Two firefighters were injured.
Two Pittsburgh firefighters were injured Saturday while battling a stubborn five-alarm blaze at two apartment buildings in West Oakland, city public safety officials said.
The blaze was reported shortly before 2:30 p.m. in the 2000 block of De Ruad Street just off Fifth Avenue.
The injured firefighters were taken to a hospital in stable condition. One suffered from smoke inhalation, and the other had an unknown injury, Pittsburgh fire Chief Darryl Jones said.
All 74 residents were accounted for from all 48 apartment units, officials said.
The fire initially was called in as two alarms but grew to five over the next hour as the flames proved unwavering and spread to a neighboring building.
“This was a very stubborn fire in a very large and old building,” Chief Jones said. “We tried to make some aggressive interior attacks, and we had to go defensive.”
Gray, brown and black smoke continued to pour from the threeand four-story buildings more than two hours after the fire started, and red flames came shooting out of the eaves at times.
Fire crews from multiple city neighborhoods responded to the scene.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Mischelle McMillan, the tenant council president for the building where the fire originated, said she was home when the fire started and thought she smelled burning plastic.
“So I looked around my house; it wasn’t in my house,” Ms. McMillan said. “I heard the neighbor in Apartment 2 screaming ‘Everybody get out! Everybody get out!’ I said ‘What’s
wrong?’ She said ‘There’s a fire.’ So we started knocking on the tenants’ doors, getting everybody out.”
The portion of Fifth Avenue around the scene — between the Birmingham Bridge and Jumonville Street — was shut down, forcing traffic to be rerouted.
City Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said the road would remain closed for several hours and urged motorists to avoid the area.
The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania said it was on its way to assist those affected by the fire.
Ms. McMillan said she and other residents have complained repeatedly about the health and safety conditions of the building they live in, which is owned by the Allegheny Housing Rehabilitation Corporation.
Residents have made multiple calls to the city about issues with the building, she said.
“These conditions are deplorable,” Ms. McMillan said.
City officials at the scene said investigators would look into the complaints and concerns as they continue to examine the fire.
“The fire investigation unit will have a complete investigation over the next several days as to how many calls were [made] here and what the nature of those calls were,” Mr. Hissrich said.
No one from the Allegheny Housing Rehabilitation Corporation could be reached for comment Saturday evening.