Fire and Explosion at Pittsburgh Condo

Melissa Krasnow was running up the stairs of her neighbor’s burning Squirrel Hill condominium late Wednesday afternoon, fire extinguisher in hand, hoping to put out a small fire burning on his deck or roof when she was startled and forced back by a loud explosion.

“As soon as we started up the stairs, there was a loud boom and flash,” Krasnow said. “You could tell that something blew out. I don’t know what it was. That’s when we all evacuated.”

There were no injuries in the three-alarm fire that started shortly before 6 p.m. in the three-story, 16-unit condominium building at the corner of Fifth and Murray Hills avenues.

The smoky, billowing flames were burning through the roof as firefighters rolled up, snarling rush-hour traffic in parts of Oakland, Squirrel Hill and Shadyside.

About two dozen people, some of them elderly and a few using wheelchairs, live in the building, several residents and city officials said. At least eight required help through the American Red Cross and Salvation Army in finding accommodations for the night, said Emily Schaffer, Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman.

Yale Feingold, 92, who lives with his wife, Margery, 90, in the condominium where the fire started, said his first thought was getting her to safety.

“The fire started on the porch or deck, somewhere, somehow,” Feingold said. “I looked out, and there was smoke and fire. My wife was downstairs, sitting on the sofa. I grabbed her wheelchair and took her out. I was afraid to leave her there.”

Krasnow, 30, was inside her condominium when she heard the fire alarm.

“Yale pulled the fire alarm. I peeked out into the hallway, and (Feingold) said his unit was on fire,” Krasnow said. “He said something on the roof was on fire; he didn’t know what it was. He said it was a small fire, so I grabbed (another neighbor’s) fire extinguisher.”

Aquil Abdul Salaam, 52, who said he is the caregiver for an 84-year-old neighbor of Feingold’s, heard the alarm.

“I came out into the hallway and asked what’s going on. He said there is a fire inside his home. That’s when we went into evacuation mode,” Salaam said. “As I got the client out in his wheelchair, we heard the explosion, very loud, very profound,” Salaam said.

Firefighters said most of the residents left on their own or had been helped out of the building by the time they arrived. City officials said two condominiums burned and that a number of others had smoke and water damage.

Schaffer said investigators are trying to determine what started the fire.

Michael Hasch is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.