PITTSBURGH — The dangerously cold conditions have taken the lives of two Pittsburgh men. 93-year-old Floyd Butler and 65-year-old Daniel Butler were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home on South Graham Street in the city’s Friendship neighborhood.
Pittsburgh Police said the men died of hypothermia telling Channel 11 “the home was very cold and the heater wasn’t working.” The low temperature the morning the men were found dead was 26 degrees. The region had just come off a four day stretch when temperatures never got above freezing.
Just blocks away in Garfield, some tenants at the Penn Mathilda Apartments are still without heat.
“It was just brutal cold. Period,” Antoinette Osei tells Channel 11. “Last night was very cold. It was extremely hard to sleep. I was shivering.”
One tenant tells us her heat finally came back on Friday morning after Channel 11′s reports Wednesday and Thursday.
She says it was nearly impossible to sleep the night before in the cold.
“I had a million blankets,” Sandra Augustus says. “My kids sent me weighted blankets and electric blankets.”
We went to the apartment building to talk with Action Housing , which owns this property, to get these veterans and low-income families some relief. We were told to leave despite asking when the heat would be turned on with temperatures near zero and negative wind chills in the forecast.
On Thursday, Action Housing assured Channel 11 no neighbor would have to sleep in dangerously cold conditions. These are folks who are wheelchair bound, have serious medical conditions or disabilities. Neighbors tell us Action Housing did not uphold their promise.
“Huh, well, I stayed in my apartment last night,” Osei continued. “Nobody offered anything.”
After our reports aired, Action Housing decided to offer hotel rooms Friday night to any neighbor still without heat. Neighbors tell us the heat has been off and on for five years and in some units, it hasn’t been on at all this winter. Action Housing still has not responded to our questions about when the heat issue would be resolved.
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