East Liberty Apartment Building Fire Displaces 20

July 23, 2011 12:06 PM

(Photo Credit: Vern Benson)

Reporting Ross Guidotti

Filed under

Local, News, Syndicated Local

EAST LIBERTY (KDKA) – Crews responded to a fast-moving apartment building fire in East Liberty Saturday morning.

According to emergency dispatchers, the three-alarm fire started around 6:12 a.m. in the 500-block of North Negley Avenue.

Two people jumped from windows to escape the fire, while several children were handed out of windows to safety. Firefighters also rescued siblings Ronnie and Rebeca Garcia-Sanches off of the roof.

One person suffered broken ribs after jumping from the window.

A woman emerged from a basement apartment nearly an hour after the fire had started after smoke and water began pouring into the unit.

“I found a secret way to get out of there,” Sandy Massie said. “I woke up at 5 o’clock and my ceiling, there was smoke coming down.”

In all, 20 people were displaced and the cause of the fire is unknown.

Officials at the scene believe the fire may have started in the second floor hallway.

“At the end of the day, this is our home. Where do we live now? It’s kind of hard. At the ame time, we’re just happy everybody is alive,” Serg Hill said.

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Hit Boy

We paid for those apartments I guess we will pay for the new ones you move into!
Critter

I heard the smoke alarms were batteryless.

Thomas J Duttine

Surprize/surprize!

Anonymous

My 15 year old son was visiting his dad on the 3rd floor apartment. He was the first of the family to jump out the window. He caught his 2 year old sister. His dad jumped next and broke 5 ribs, then his dad’s wife jumped last. The smoke alarms and dog barking woke them up. The dog did not make it out of the apartment. Such a shame for my son’s dad’s family to have to start fresh. My son has no shoes now. He lost his phone and clothes as well. But they all made it out safely!
Z’s Dad

Hit boy you ain’t paid for nothin bum, you probably still live with your mommy punk,Anonymous , your just clueless you don’t know how anyone paid there rent, so you can get the middle and spin on it. RIP Madison
Anonymous

What a shame such a horrific incident happened to these families includiing mine and I see such negative comments on here. Taxpayers won’t pay =- I’m a taxpayer. The families will get help from donations. These people lost EVERYTHING. Every piece of clothing, beds, cribs, tv’s, diapers, etc. Have some compassion. It’s a distressed area – but the negative comments are really unnecessary