Neighbor recounts rescuing man with Alzheimer’s from Etna rowhouse fire, attempts to smother flames

ETNA, Pa. — UPDATE: One of the people impacted by Saturday night’s fire in Etna has launched a GoFundMe after losing his medication and supplies for his amputated leg. You can find the link to the fundraiser here.

ORIGINAL STORY:

As a fire quickly spread in an Etna home Saturday night, neighbors rushed to help those trapped inside.

PHOTOS: Rowhouses in Etna damaged in Saturday evening fire

Neighbor Damian Komorofski says instinct kicked in as he and his friend worked to help residents in the 100 block of Cherry Street after a fire broke out around 8:30 p.m.

“Everybody’s screaming, ‘Someone’s upstairs!’ At that point, I had no choice but to run upstairs and grab whoever was up there,” Komorofski said.

His priority was getting people out of the burning home, including a man with Alzheimer’s.

“He didn’t know he was stuck in a room. He didn’t know the house was on fire. I just told him to grab my waist and took him for a ride,” Komorofski said.

After safely getting the man out, Komorofski says neighbors grabbed a garden hose, trying to suffocate the flames before fire crews arrived, but the fire was too intense.

“When I grabbed the picnic table, it’s almost like gas was laid on it… it just engulfed,” Komorofski said.

The two-alarm fire spread through the row homes. No one was seriously hurt, but a firefighter went to the hospital for a minor injury. Etna firefighters spent an hour getting the fire under control.

Several residents aren’t able to stay in their homes.

One of the residents recently had his leg amputated and said he lost everything in the fire — including his medications. On Sunday, he was back trying to see if any of his insulin shots were usable.

Komorofski says this fire is unfortunately all too familiar — as he had his home burn in a similar row house fire over 20 years ago.

“I hope everybody makes it through this. Nobody deserves to go through this. I went through it in 2002, so I don’t like to see anybody deal with it,” Komorofski said.

Right now, it’s unclear exactly how this fire started. The Allegheny County Fire Marshal is investigating.

The Red Cross is helping the displaced residents.

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