Woman Dead After Fire Breaks Out At South Side High-Rise Apartment
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One person died when fire broke out overnight at a high-rise apartment complex on Pittsburgh's South Side.
Crews were called to Carson Towers on East Carson Street around 2 a.m.
When they arrived at the scene, crews reported smoke coming from a basement apartment.
That's where the victim was found.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office has identified her at 65-year-old Teresa Walker.
NEW INFO: The Allegheny County medical examiner's office has identified the victim of the overnight fire on the South Side. 65-year-old Teresa Walker was killed in the basement apartment. #KDKA pic.twitter.com/oKqdQxZJSv
— Lisa Washington (@LisaWashing) February 6, 2019
The victim's neighbor John Cristello says Walker had lived in the building for two years, and recently injured her back.
"She fell and they took her to the hospital. She was gone maybe three weeks in the hospital," he said. "She wore a corset because she injured her back. She could hardly get around. She was in a lot of pain."
The fire chief said the building has sprinklers in the common areas, but not in the individual units.
"The building was partial sprinklered just in the common areas, but the apartments were not sprinklered," Pittsburgh Fire Bureau Chief Darryl Jones said. "If this apartment was sprinklered, I doubt very seriously there would have been a fatality here."
Firefighters say the damage was contained to the victim's apartment. The window to the unit has been boarded up.
Stay with KDKA for the latest on this developing story.
