CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. — When the fire at 314 North Pittsburgh Street started Wednesday night, Joyce Crow was at her home across the street. She didn’t know at first that the apartment building where her mom and dad live was on fire.
A neighbor came and knocked at her door.
“[Your] mom’s in a police car because the house caught on fire,” Crow recalled the neighbor saying.
Her mom had been lying on the couch trying to sleep when she smelled smoke.
“Mom was in the front window and I guess they [the police] had to kick the door in to bring her out,” Crow told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.
Crow said six people lived in the apartment building. Everyone made it out safely. However, Crow’s mom did lose her dog, a chihuahua named Buddy, to the fire.
“She still doesn’t think it’s real,” Crow said. “She says she wants to come and see if buddy’s still sleeping, not getting the premise that he’s gone, you know?”
On Thursday, Crow went into the apartment to see what she could save.
“[It’s] bad. Can’t find nothing,” she said. “We did find a picture of my sister and her kids in there. That was the only thing we could see.”
They also saved some of her mom’s dolls. They haven’t been able to find the box with their birth certificates and other important documents.
They also lost a lot of her dad’s medical equipment, including his walker. She was thankful he wasn’t home when the fire started. He’s currently in the hospital.
“For two months we’ve been getting bad news. His legs being amputated, him having a stroke, and now another amputation has to go on today,” Crow said.
She said the Red Cross was on scene Wednesday night and gave gift cards to help get those who lived in the building some clothes.
Right now, her mom is staying at her sister’s while her dad stays in the hospital.
She said it’s a lot of stress right before Christmas.
“They lost everything,” she said. “And now we’ve got to build up from nothing.”
Right now there is no word on how the fire started.
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