Fire Marshal investigating ‘suspicious’ fire at vacant Duquesne duplex

DUQUESNE, Pa. — An investigation is underway after firefighters were called to a vacant duplex in Duquesne on Saturday afternoon.

Allegheny County 911 dispatchers tell Channel 11 that emergency crews were sent to the intersection of Sherman Avenue and Catharine Street after 2 p.m.

City of Duquesne Fire Chief Frank Cobb said when he arrived on scene the duplex was a “ball of fire” and fully engulfed in flames.

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He immediately called for a 2nd alarm to bring in additional manpower due to the size of the building and the heat index.

The duplex has no electric or gas utilities connected. It partially collapsed in the fire and is a total loss. Cobb says this is the third time firefighters responded to a fire at this duplex in recent years. He called this fire suspicious and thinks arson could be to blame.

“Obviously we have an arsonist running around and hopefully the city can obtain more grant funding and start getting some of these abandoned buildings knocked down,” he said.

Neighbors tell us the flames were so intense and hot they could be felt 200 feet away. The fire also threatened two other neighboring homes. The people inside those homes were temporarily evacuated until the fire was out.

One of the neighbors we spoke to has witnessed two of the fires at this duplex.

“It’s horrible. It’s disheartening to know that someone probably did this,” Valerie Franklin said. “This time it seemed like it was very fast and it was very quick. Everything went down really fast.”

Franklin says she also wants to see the vacant buildings torn down because they are the ones that get set on fire.

“You’re catching all of these vacant houses on fire and putting people in danger that have children, that have families and putting firefighters lives in danger just as much,” she said.

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze. No one was hurt in the fire.

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