Man dead, another injured after fall through 3 floors at Blairsville building restoration site

One man died and another was injured after the pair fell three floors into the basement of a dilapidated former school they were assessing for demolition Wednesday in Blairsville, borough officials said.

John Plunkett, 63, of Blairsville, died at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh from blunt force injuries related to the fall, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. He was taken there by medical helicopter.

Police Officer David Romagnoli found Plunkett buried under debris in the basement and freed him in about 15 minutes with the help of borough firefighters, Blairsville Police Chief Louis J. Sacco said in a statement.

The man who was injured was found walking outside the building and alerted police to the possible location of his co-worker, the chief said.

That man was taken by Citizens Ambulance Service to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, where he was listed in stable condition, according to Sacco.

The building formerly served as the Third Ward Elementary School.

Police said the two men went onto the roof of the building to assess it for demolition when the roof collapsed and the men fell.

Emergency responders were alerted to the incident, at the intersection of South Walnut and Short streets, at about 12:45 p.m., Sacco said.

“That building is dilapidated,” he said. “There is all that debris around there (the building perimeter).

”Everyone who went into that building risked their lives. They did an amazing job.”

Two neighboring homes on Short Street were evacuated as a precaution.

Marjorie Kistler, whose Short Street home is adjacent to the building, said they heard a boom and could hear a man yelling for his fellow worker.

As a result of the accident, Blairsville officials cordoned off two adjacent houses on Short Street, over concerns about the stability of the wall closest to the houses.

The borough’s consulting engineer, Michael G. Meyer, walked the perimeter of the structure with the borough manager and code enforcement officer, David Fairman.

When questioned by residents about whether the building would be condemned, borough officials said that would be a legal matter.

Sacco said officials were assessing the building’s structural integrity.

According to Indiana County deed records, the property is owned by Abraham Fellerbaum of Spring Valley, N.Y.

Fellerbaum could not be reached for comment.

The owner had workers at the building since last year, according to Blairville Borough Manager Jody Poorbaugh.

The building previously served students on South Walnut Street until the 1990s. It has gaping holes in the roof and numerous missing windows. Pieces of wood and other debris were lying on the ground .

The building has changed hands five times times since Blairsville-Saltsburg School District sold it in October 1997.

The school district sold it for $67,500. It was resold several times after that, fluctuating each time from a high of $15,000 to a low of $645.62.

The building has been vacant since 2009. After its life as a school, the basement of the building was used as a workout facility and housed a tattoo parlor. It’s unclear if it has been used recently.

At some point, it was put up for bid on auction website eBay and was sold in May 2010 for $15,100. But it doesn’t appear from county records that the sale ever materialized.

The building was constructed in 1915 as Blairsville High School and was used until 1931 when a larger high school opened on North Walnut Street. The South Walnut building then became the elementary school.