Couple awakened by boom, flames at Mount Washington home

PITTSBURGH — Busted windows, burned bricks, and a shell of a back deck.

That’s all that’s left of a Mount Washington home where Jean Myers has lived for more than 30 years.

PHOTOS: Fire tears through Mount Washington home

Channel 11 spoke to her this morning while she watched firefighters work to save her home.

“Everything I worked for all my life,” she said. “But you know what? We are alive, thank God. It spread so quickly.”

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She and her boyfriend were asleep inside when she heard a loud noise.

“The sound was unbelievable,” she said. “We weren't using the grill or anything. I can't imagine what the explosion was from. It's just horrifying.”

Then she looked outside her back window down to the deck.

“It just went up like it was a napalm bomb,” she said. “It was just so gigantic. Orange... and the red umbrella flew up in the air and the trees were lighted in the fire.”

Firefighters were able to save some of Myers’ keepsakes and mementoes, but she’s just grateful to be alive.

“Things are things,” she said. “With all the disasters that are happening in the world, I never thought it would hit home; nobody ever does. But I'm thankful to be alive.”

She told Channel 11 she was planning to stay in a hotel and get in touch with the Red Cross.

Cox Media Group