3 Firefighters Injured In Monessen, Fire Ruled Arson
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
MONESSEN, Pa. (KDKA) -- A state police fire marshal ruled that a house fire in Monessen Tuesday night was the work of an arsonist.
Neighbors say the woman who lived at 632 Summit Avenue in Monessen wasn't home Tuesday night when firefighters were called there for the report of a fire around 11 p.m.
"We heard a noise and my husband went out to see what it was to see if something was happening on the street, and he just yelled because he could see smoke from our upstairs window," Lisa Little told KDKA's Lisa Washington.
Little lives next door and called 911.
Little said, "The flames were shooting out of the front of the house."
"There was a lot of flames, and then in the attic, they couldn't get the fire out right away," added Miriam Kinds, who lives nearby.
Three firefighters were injured.
One who had a shoulder injury and was taken to a local hospital, a second was injured when the front porch of the home collapsed, and a third firefighter fell through a floor.
"As his legs went through the floor, his protective pants rose up and he got a minor burns," said Chief Chris Rhome of the Monessen Volunteer Fire Department. "He was evaluated by EMS at the scene."
The firefighter who was burned was able to continue working to put out the flames. Chief Rhome says it's disheartening when firefighters are injured, in what he describes as senseless fires.
"It just scolds me when we have to deal with fires that are a result of an arsonist and that just pains me even more when our men get hurt," he said.
None of the firefighters' injuries was life-threatening.
