Fire heavily damages 8th-floor apartment at Tarentum high-rise

Jun. 2—As she looked on from a nearby parking lot, Maria Gray said the apartment next to hers on the top floor of Rachel Carson Hall in Tarentum looked like "a black void."

A fire Wednesday afternoon caused extensive damage to that apartment, but nobody was hurt, Eureka Deputy Fire Chief Brad James said.

The fire was reported shortly before 2:30 p.m. James said firefighters from departments in three communities had it under control in about 20 minutes.

Gray said she has lived in the eight-story Allegheny County Housing Authority high-rise on Second Avenue at Wood Street for less than a week, moving there from Cheswick. She was playing on her computer when the alarms went off.

"I grabbed my cats and ran out of the building," she said. Her two cats sat in a carrier at her feet, which she moved away from the building because the noise and commotion were upsetting them. "I wouldn't even have my phone if it wasn't in my pocket."

But Gray said damage to her apartment was not her biggest worry.

"I'm safe. My 'babies' are safe," she said. "I can always buy new stuff."

James said the fire was contained to the apartment where it started. There was smoke damage throughout the eighth floor and water damage on the seventh and eighth floors.

"No one likes to deal with high-rises. It is challenging," James said, adding the fire went to three alarms. "We trained for it. We practiced for it."

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause along with the housing authority.

A housing authority representative could not be reached for comment at the scene.

The building has 60 units, but the current number of residents was not immediately available.

Although police evacuated some residents, James said firefighters prefer they shelter in place because of the building's construction and layout, which he said is compartmentalized with cement slabs.

Some residents were displaced, but James could not say how many. Apartments on the first five floors should not be affected, but the top three are impacted, James said.

Fourth-floor residents David Rychlik and Diane Fuellner reacted differently to the alarm triggered by the fire.

Rychlik, who said he has lived in the building for three months, said the alarm goes off often enough he doesn't pay attention to it. But, "This time, it apparently was real," he said as he sat in his car.

He was watching television when the alarm went off.

"I just kind of ignored it, and then bang, bang, bang on my door," he said. "It was the police telling me to get out now. The staircase filled up with smoke pretty quick."

A resident for seven years, Fuellner said she leaves the building when the alarm goes off, even if something like burned food caused it.

"I don't take chances. I always leave," she said.

"I was watching TV when the alarm went off," she said. "I opened the door. I didn't see or smell any smoke. Like I always do, I leave the building."

Fuellner said she was allowed to go back to her apartment for medications, and she said her place was not touched by the fire.

This is the first time since she has lived there that there actually was a fire.

"It was scary. I was in shock, I guess," she said. "Thank God that no one got hurt."

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@triblive.com or via Twitter .