PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire officials are investigating after flames and smoke damaged the School House Apartment Building on Tripoli Street Tuesday morning.
A preliminary investigation indicates “a careless smoking situation” in a first-floor bedroom appears to be the cause of this fire, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety officials.
They told Channel 11 that a woman tried to put out the fire herself but couldn’t, as police officers and property management worked to get everyone out.
Dozens of people stood across the way, watching as Pittsburgh city firefighters worked to put out flames that severely damaged the woman’s first-floor apartment.
Public safety officials say the flames were contained to one unit, but smoke and water caused damage to other parts of the building. The Red Cross is helping those who cannot return home yet.
Officials say the woman who lives in the apartment where the fire started has first and second-degree burns and was taken to the hospital. At last check, she is stable.
Public safety officials say the City Fire Marshal is looking into reports that some residents’ smoke detectors did not sound inside individual units after many people said they couldn’t hear the alarm from inside their homes. Property management is disputing those claims.
“One thing that a lot of us love about this building is you don’t hear your neighbors, but the bad thing is – and we’ve brought this to the attention of the property company many times – you can’t hear the fire alarms when they go off in the building, so if I would have been sleeping in my bedroom, or if I would have been in the living room, I wouldn’t have heard a thing,” said Kimber Weissert, who lives on the third floor.
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