Local News

Several Tenants Displaced By East Liberty Apartment Building Fire

July 16, 2014 / 5:29 AM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh

EAST LIBERTY (KDKA) - People evacuated an apartment building in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood in the middle of the night Tuesday. It was a close call for one woman.

Red glowing lights from fire engines lit up North Euclid Avenue just before midnight.

"We received a call mid-evening for a report of a stove on fire," Battalion Chief John Walsh with the Pittsburgh Fire Department said. "Crews arrived on the scene and found heavy smoke on the second floor, heavy fire emanating from the rear of the building on the second floor."

For one resident, those flames and smoke were just a little too close. Kiersten Sands lived on the second floor, right next door to the unit that was on fire.

"I went to my front door to try to get out," Sands said. "When I opened my front door, there were flames coming in, so I shut it and got a towel and stuck it underneath, then I ran to my back door and there were flames coming in."

In darkness, she made it down the fire escape.

Walsh stated that no injuries were reported, and the fire was quickly contained.

"The fire itself affected basically one apartment," he said. "They kept the extension from the first and the third floors, but there was a lot of smoke and water damage."

Which is why building inspectors will have to look the building over before anyone can return.

One resident said she was told it could be several days before they can return to the building. In the meantime, the Red Cross has found them temporary housing.

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