Donations being collected for 30 families who lost everything in Penn Hills apartment fire

PENN HILLS, Pa. — Flames tore through the Rodi Arms apartment building in Penn Hills early Saturday morning, forcing 48 adults and 10 kids out of their homes.

No one was injured, but the 30 families living there are left with nothing.

“Some of them that I’ve met so far have gone out with not even the shoes to walk out with. They literally got up out of bed with the clothes on their back,” said Matt Mitcheltree, the marketing director for Western Pennsylvania Search and Rescue.

The group is stepping up to help meet the needs of these displaced families. They’re collecting food, clothing, medicine and first aid items, hygiene products, toys and more at their Frey Road location in Penn Hills each day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We have received an outpouring of love and donations from this community like I’ve never witnessed in my 49 years of living in this town,” said Mitcheltree.

That being said, the group is still asking for more help, including toys for kids and laptops for adults.

“We have a lot of people that work from home,” explained Mitcheltree. “These are people that have worked their entire lives to get where they’re at right now. They finally get a laptop and they’re able to do a job. And then they lose it.”

Another immediate need is money for housing, as assistance from the Red Cross runs out.

“They’re going to be left with nowhere to go but their own cars. A lot of them don’t have family members that they can stay with and they don’t have the funds to go stay somewhere,” said Mitcheltree.

You can also donate money here: https://wpxi.tv/3rFvyhw.

Tenants left searching for answers

“I heard pap, pap, boom, and then my neighbor yelled, ‘the fire is not out, get out!’ “said, Taelyr Terry.

Taelyr Terry said she had received an all-clear from first responders when she heard her neighbors yell for her to get out of the building, again.

But this time, when she left, she said she knew she wouldn’t be able to return, “As soon as I walked out that door you could see the flames engulf [the building] behind me,” said Taelyr Terry.

After battling flames, fire crews allowed tenants to return; however, both tenants and crews quickly realized the fire was not out.

Penn Hills Fire Marshall, Chuck Miller, said the fire that appeared to be out - actually spread through a pipe and into the attic space.

“There weren’t any visible signs anywhere that it had occurred,” said Miller who explained why tenants were initially allowed to return.

“I got a phone call from my neighbor frantic, who told me, to get out there’s a fire,” said Taelyr Terry.

And Taelyr said that calls along with her sister’s surveillance footage were the only alerts she received.

“I had an Xfinity camera in my house,” said Tielyr Terry, “You can see the smoke coming from my next door to the house.”

According to Tielyr, her footage shows the fire beginning at 12:17 a.m., she claims officials wouldn’t arrive for another 45-minutes.

While Taelyr said there wasn’t a smoke detector in her apartment, nor sprinklers in the building, and the fire alarm system she says had been on the fritz.

“A building of that age was not required to have a sprinkler system put into it,” said Miller when asked why there wasn’t a system in place.

However, a smoke detector should have been present as landlords are required to notify the department after every change of tenant, but Chief Miller said he is unsure if that happened.

“We don’t have a list of current tenants to match our list of current tenants,” said Miller.

Officials also confirmed that there had been violations with the fire alarm system in the past. Something both sisters can attest to.

“If you slammed the door too hard it would go off, but the firefighters would have to be notified, you would literally have to call the department,” said Tielyr Terry.

Miller said he believes those issues had been fixed.

But as for the two sisters and more than 50 families impacted many are left with nothing.

“Literally everything is gone, everything I worked for everything [gone,]” said Taelyr Terry.

The women are now asking for the public’s help as they work through this difficult time. A GoFundMe page has also been started, specifically for Taelyr and Tielyr Terry and their three young children.

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