Man Dies In Homestead Fire
HOMESTEAD (KDKA) -- A man believed to be in his 30s was killed in a fire in Homestead Wednesday.
The fire started in a three-story home around noon and could be seen from blocks away.
"When I come across the avenue on my way home from work, the flames were just shooting through the roof," neighbor Leddie Barna said. "It was very bad. So they did a very good job, considering, you know, up until this point."
About 70 firefighters from more than six fire departments responded to the call. They found it tough to contain the three-alarm blaze.
Then the nature of the call changed, as Fire Chief Bill Purifoy of the Homestead Fire Department explained.
"We started making an aggressive interior attack on it. Then we had a report of a possible entrapment, so we curbed our operations and went into rescue mode, and we found a victim up on the second floor."
The victim's identity has not been released, but friends and relatives say one man staying in the home had difficulty walking. His handicap may have prevented him from getting out of the house alive.
There is no fire damage on first floor of the home. Because fire burns upwards, it appears that the fire started on the second floor.
The body was found in the second floor hallway of the home. The fire marshal is investigating.
County homicide detectives were also present at the scene of the fire, but there is nothing that currently indicates the fire was not an accident.
