A two-alarm fire tore through a vacant building on Lyzell Street in Pittsburgh’s Perry South neighborhood just after midnight Saturday, leaving little more than a charred shell and sending thick smoke drifting across nearby blocks. Multiple 911 callers reported the blaze around 12:30 a.m., and Pittsburgh Public Safety said no one was hurt even as the structure began to collapse while firefighters were on scene.
Responding police and fire units arrived to find the building already fully engulfed in flames and quickly called in a second alarm to bring more firefighters and equipment, according to WPXI. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined, and fire crews and investigators remained at the scene to secure the area and begin their work.
Vacant Buildings Bring Extra Hazards for Crews
Empty and abandoned structures are notoriously risky for firefighters. They are frequent targets for incendiary fires and often conceal dangers like missing stairs and weakened floors that can give way without warning. A National Fire Protection Association study on vacant-building fires found that U.S. fire departments handled an average of about 30,200 such incidents per year between 2011 and 2015, and that these properties account for a disproportionate share of firefighter injuries, according to NFPA.
Recent Blazes Have Strained Local Response
The Perry South fire comes in a year already marked by major structure fires in the region. In March, a three-alarm blaze destroyed multiple buildings in Braddock, drawing a large response and lingering concerns about the toll of back-to-back large incidents on local resources, as covered by WPXI.
What’s Next for the Site
Fire investigators are expected to examine the Lyzell Street scene to determine the fire’s origin and cause. Depending on what they find, the Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections could move to secure or demolish the structure if it is deemed unsafe. The city has previously used its emergency demolition powers following structurally compromising incidents, according to a City of Pittsburgh press release describing earlier emergency response actions.
