Residents wait to return to Fayette County apartments after deadly hostage situation and fire

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (KDKA) — Some residents of a Fayette County apartment complex are still waiting to return home Thursday night after being evacuated from their building early Wednesday morning.

Dozens of residents were evacuated after authorities said a man, identified as Charles Nara, sent a note out with a child stating he had 50 gallons of gasoline, a gun and a hostage inside his apartment.

"It was scary. I'm not gonna lie," said Katie Teets, a resident at the Woodview Terrace apartments.

Shortly after police received a 911 call, flames and black smoke could be seen coming from the apartment. 

"When I woke up, all I smelled was smoke, but mostly burning plastic," Katie Teets said.

Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele told KDKA-TV the apartment building had a significant amount of heat and carbon monoxide. Authorities said they found Charles Nara and Megan Kulenovic dead inside. Their cause and manner of death will be determined after an autopsy.  

According to Fayette County 911, fire crews were sent back to the apartment complex for reports of carbon monoxide poisoning after some residents were allowed to return.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning can be caused from a fire caused with like fuel and Charlie did say that he had gas in the apartment," said Toby Teets, another resident at the apartment complex.

Toby and Katie Teets both live in the same building the incident happened at and are still waiting to get the green light to return home.

"[Building management] just said that the 700 building is completely inaccessible," Toby said.

Fayette 911 said fire crews installed fans in some windows of the apartment complex Wednesday night.

Paul Beck, the medical director at the Uniontown Hospital emergency department, said carbon monoxide is a gas that comes from incomplete combustion.

"It is tasteless, odorless, colorless and has 200 times more affinity for hemoglobin binding than regular oxygen. So, it leads to basically death by low oxygen being delivered to the tissue," Beck said.

Beck said when carbon monoxide is present, there are symptoms you should pay attention to, especially within 24 hours after a fire.

"It can be, you know, short of breath, lightheaded, dizzy, altered mental status. People can come in an actual coma or unconsciousness. So it can be very variable. Some people can just have nausea and vomiting. You think you have a GI bug, and it can be carbon monoxide," Beck said.

He said there are about 50,000 cases a year of carbon monoxide nationwide.

"It's one of the major causes of death or disability related to fire," Beck said.

He said the presence of carbon monoxide varies after a fire and depends on ventilation. He urged anyone with symptoms to go to their local hospital.

"Even if it's outside of that first 24 hours when you're exposed to that immediate danger, if you're getting any symptoms down the road, you should seek out medical attention," Beck said.

Those who live inside the building where the fire happened said they're hopeful the situation will be taken care of by the time they go home.

"It's not so much about the carbon monoxide poisoning. It's just I had felt safe there, and then Charlie made it feel not so safe," Toby Teets said.

"I just hope it doesn't seep into our apartment, but I have full faith that they'll be able to clear that out by the time we get back," Katie said.

KDKA-TV reached out to building management to learn how soon until those residents can return and what they're doing to make sure it's safe but didn't hear back by airtime.