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3-Alarm Larimer Fire Destroys 1 Home, Damages 2 Others

LARIMER (KDKA) – A three-alarm fire in Larimer destroyed one home and heavily damaged two others Wednesday morning.

According to officials at the scene, the fire broke out at a home on Thompson Street around 3 a.m.

"I looked out the door. The street was glowing and the house was engulfed in flames," Lewis McCallough said.

Flames were intense and spread to two adjacent homes. As a result, the fire quickly went to three alarms.

"We have three structures that are involved. One of which, the initial structure, is completely collapsed. The two adjacent structures that the fire spread to received heavy damage," Pittsburgh Police Spokeswoman Emily Schaffer said.

Maressa Wright lives in the home next door to where the fire started with her six children, her nephew and her mother, who is on oxygen. Within minutes, the flames jumped to their house.

"Grab your kids and go. No matter what they have on, no matter what it is. You just grab them and get out," she said. "I just thank God. Everything else can be replaced."

It took fire crews about an hour to knock down the flames, but they spent a considerable amount of time putting out hot spots.

Neighbors said at least one of the homes was occupied, but there are no reported injuries.

"The house has been empty for quite a few years," McCallough said.  "It didn't burn by itself.  Someone set it on fire."

Wright believes someone was in the vacant house Tuesday afternoon.

"I said, 'Mom, someone's in that house because the blinds are up. And then when we looked back again, the blinds were down. So, there was somebody in that house," Wright said.

The Wright family is being helped by the Red Cross, but they have nowhere to go.

"We'll just have to take it from there. Everything else can be replaced, but not our lives," Wright said.

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