Families displaced, 2 dogs killed when fire rips through Lawrenceville houses
A fire ripped through three houses Tuesday night in Pittsburgh’s Upper Lawrenceville neighborhood, displacing multiple families and killing two pet dogs, initial reports indicate.
Emergency dispatchers received a report of the residential fire on Wickliff Street, between 54th Street and McCandless Avenue, at about 7 p.m., an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said. None of the occupants of the three homes were injured, nor were any firefighters. The houses there are only a few feet apart.
“When first responders arrived, they found three homes with heavy flames showing,” Pittsburgh Public Safety officials said. “Windy conditions and heavy smoke complicated first responders’ efforts.”
Justin Stokes, whose fiancée is the daughter of two of the displaced adults, said the family fears that two pitbull-Labrador mixes died in the fire. A third dog, a golden retriever mix, was spotted on a nearby street.
Firefighters still were working on ladders and pumping water and foam to knock down the fire and secure the structures shortly after 9 p.m. Officials closed McCandless Avenue from Duncan Street to Stanton Avenue.
The Salvation Army was assisting.
The Pittsburgh Bureau’s Fire Investigation Unit, which includes police detectives and fire investigators, are investigating the cause of the fire.
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