Tragedy struck Pittsburgh's Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood yesterday as a fire devastated a home on Dickson Street. Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed that the blaze, which escalated to three alarms, was reported to have begun with a candle in the living room of a first-floor duplex. The intense inferno required firefighters to labor through the afternoon to suppress it. One responder, amid the chaos, sustained a minor back injury, though no other injuries sprang up, as reported by WTAE.
Witness to the catastrophe, Brenda McElroy arrived from a bus stop to find her daughter's home engulfed, unable to fathom the next step. "I just don’t know what I’m going to do," she told WPXI in an interview. Brenda had not been living at the house due to the absence of heat, so she stayed with a friend while her son and his wife, residents at the time, evacuated safely. Pittsburgh Public Safety was unsure at the time of the report if two cats in the home were rescued.
Amid the ruin, Brenda recounted the loss of belongings, including those precious to her heritage. All the stuff. My mother’s stuff. Everything is gone," she lamented to WPXI. The use of a turbo heater with propane in the unheated home was mentioned. However, what sparked the fire remains uncertain, and the heater's involvement and cause are under investigation.
