A public-housing high-rise in McKeesport is facing a safety reckoning, with residents reportedly living amid crime, filthy conditions and a fire suppression system that does not work. The building’s problems are now serious enough that the city’s mayor has labeled them a public safety emergency.
A report from CBS News Pittsburgh, featuring KDKA investigator Andy Sheehan, says hundreds of residents could be exposed to potentially deadly conditions. The report attributes the warning to Mayor Tom Maglicco, who called the situation an emergency involving both public safety and basic living conditions.
McKeesport Towers Has Faced Fire Questions Before
The building at the center of the concern is McKeesport Towers, a McKeesport Housing Authority property serving low-income residents. The authority lists the complex among its communities and says its mission is to provide quality housing options for people in the McKeesport area, according to the McKeesport Housing Authority.
The tower has already been the scene of a major fire emergency. In 2023, CBS Pittsburgh reported that a mattress fire on the seventh floor forced the evacuation of the 12-story senior high-rise, displaced roughly 200 people and sent at least four residents to hospitals. Officials said at the time that the building had no sprinklers.
That earlier fire exposed the particular danger of evacuating an older high-rise where many residents may have mobility limitations. A system that fails during an emergency can turn a manageable apartment fire into a race against smoke, flames and crowded stairwells.
Safety Complaints Echo A Wider McKeesport Pattern
The concerns also echo a 2021 investigation by WESA into nearby Hi View Gardens and Midtown, separate properties where tenants described infestations, unsecured entrances, leaks and recurring fire-alarm problems. That investigation cited 2,062 calls to the county’s 911 system at the two complexes in 2019 and 2020, a 46% increase over the prior two-year period.
McKeesport’s public-housing system is also operating under new leadership. The Mon Valley Independent reported in April that longtime McKeesport Housing Authority director Steve Bucklew retired and was replaced by Diane Raible, who said projects were underway at both of the authority’s high-rises and that she hoped to build a new senior development.
Residents Need A Clear Repair And Security Timeline
The mayor’s emergency declaration raises an immediate question: what protections are in place while the fire system, sanitation problems and security concerns are addressed? Residents need concrete information about repairs, interim fire-safety measures and how complaints will be handled inside a building where an evacuation could be especially difficult.
For McKeesport Towers residents, this is not just a maintenance dispute or an ugly hallway problem. It is a basic question of whether the place they call home is safe enough to survive the next emergency.
