Man Dies In Fire At Pleasant Hills Apartments
PLEASANT HILLS (KDKA) -- A man was killed when fire broke out Wednesday evening at an apartment building in Pleasant Hills.
The two-alarm fire was reported at the Neopolitan Suites apartment building at 117 Curry Hollow Road around 8:30 p.m.
Alvin Henderson, the Allegheny County EMS chief, says one man died in the fire.
He has been identified William Ingold, 56, of Pleasant Hills.
Henderson said the fire appears to have broken out in a back bedroom area of a third-floor apartment, where the victim was found.
"The first unit on scene was the Pleasant Hills Police Department, they with some residents tried to make entry to the apartment. When they entered the apartment they encountered a lot of heat and thick, black smoke. They were not able to go all they way back into the room of the apartment," said Henderson.
He went on to say it's too early to say what may have caused the smoky, two-alarm fire.
Neighbors reported thick, heavy, black smoke coming from the building.
One neighbor, Tom Hayes, said he stuck his head out the door of his apartment, and a policeman told him to get out because there was a fire in the building next door.
Hayes says he saw smoke coming from both sides and the top of the building.
Rich Zuccarini lived next door to the burned out apartment. He witnessed a neighbor kick in the victim's door in an attempt to save him.
"I [saw] George trying to yell and trying to help him, whether Bill could hear him or not, I don't know. George told him to get down on the floor and crawl out, whether he could see him or not I don't know because it was full of smoke. He couldn't go too far in or he would have been two of them in there,"
Zuccarini has fond memories of his friend.
"He was a good guy and he was kind of a loner, probably his best friend was my dog, Roxie. He would come over and have coffee with us. He was in the Navy, but how long I have no idea. When he moved here, we just became friends."
The apartment where the fire started was heavily damaged. Two other apartments sustained smoke and water damage.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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