PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Firefighters responded to two scenes, five blocks apart Friday morning, and police tell Channel 11, the cause of the fires appear to be suspicious.
“They was screaming, ‘Get out of the house! Get out of the house! The house in on fire!’ And, I’m like what?!?”
Tina Chatman and her boyfriend told Channel 11, they saw their lives flash before them as flames damaged their Freeland Street home.
“They was banging on the door. So, we just grabbed what we could and got out,” said Chatman.
Pittsburgh Police tell Channel 11 a fire at an abandoned home next to Chatman’s and another fire five blocks away are considered suspicious.
“For somebody to deliberately go around setting fires like that; we could’ve been in there dead by just from the smoke,” said Chatman
The first fire started just before 1:30 a.m. in a vacant house on Beltzhoover Road and quickly spread to neighboring buildings. The fire ultimately left four people homeless.
“As they were responding to that initial call, they were then alerted to the other just minutes later,” said Cara Cruz, Pittsburgh Public Safety.
“You could hardly believe it. Everyone started looking in the direction, you could almost see these flames you know, how high they were with these tall trees,” said Chatman.
Pittsburgh Public Safety is asking for the public’s help with this investigation.
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