Family safe after fire tears through house in Plum

Monica Hanner had lived in her home in Plum’s Kellywood Estates for 11 years, but she didn’t really know her neighbors. And some of her neighbors said they didn’t really know her.

That didn’t stop them from offering their help after Hanner’s Emerald Drive home was severely damaged, if not destroyed, by fire Friday morning.

A man who lives a few doors down and across the street offered Hanner and her three children — ages 15, 12 and 8 — muffins after seeing them sitting in her car after firefighters had left.

“Mommy, the whole roof’s gone,” one of the children said from the back seat.

“Almost everything’s gone,” Hanner replied.

“Even my tablet?” the child said.

Stephanie Henderson, owner of Sparkle Cleaners in Lower Burrell, stopped by and offered whatever help she could give, including cleaning any clothes they could salvage.

“There’s people there to help you in this neighborhood,” Henderson told Hanner.

Hanner and her three children got out of their burning house unhurt. She said her family and the Red Cross were offering to get them into a hotel.

“This was my secure spot” amid the covid-19 pandemic, said Hanner, 38, a nursing student. “I just feel like we aren’t safe now.”

Unity Volunteer Fire Dept. Capt. P.J. Mudar said volunteer firefighters from seven departments had the fire under control in about 15 minutes and extinguished in 25 minutes.

Mudar said no firefighters were hurt and they had no issues with manpower or water.

An alert about the fire went out at 8:20 a.m. Cecelia Coughlin, who lives directly across the street, said she first saw smoke and flames shortly after 8 a.m. She saw Hanner and her children fleeing the house but was among neighbors who said they didn’t really know the family.

Her pictures appeared to show three separate columns of smoke rising from the house.

“We could feel the heat from inside our house with the doors closed. The scent of the smoke was very strong,” Coughlin said. “It escalated very quickly.”

Coughlin said she has lived in Kellywood Estates for 20 years. She said a house there burned to the ground about 10 years ago after being struck by lightning.

“I’m so glad they’re safe,” she said.

Allegheny County Fire Marshal Matt Brown said the fire stemmed from “an electrical or light issue” and started in the attic of the home.

Brown added that the blaze was an accident.

Hanner said a handyman had been working on her house, which included installing ceiling fans on the second floor. The master bedroom, one of four, was being remodeled and she wasn’t sleeping in it.

Before the flames, Hanner said she first noticed a “really bad” electrical smell in her house and thought it might have been coming from her coffee maker or microwave.

“I kept smelling something electric. I couldn’t find anything,” she said.

Hanner said she lay down, but then, “I heard a big bang.”

Hanner said one of the children told her part of the ceiling had fallen.

“I got up and ran,” she said. “The whole ceiling was on the floor in the bathroom.”

Hanner said she saw little sparks in the ceiling before the flames.

“I told the kids to hurry up and get dressed and called the fire department,” she said. They got in the car and she drove down the street.

“I thought they could get it out. I thought they contained it,” she said.

A neighbor broke the bad news to her.

“She said, ‘Your house is gone,’ ” Hanner said.

Henderson offered reassurance to Hanner and her children — and a hug from a distance.

“You’re all safe and you’re all alive,” she told them. “That’s the most important thing.”