More than 40 residents of Washington County apartment building displaced by fire
Authorities evacuated nearly 100 people from a burning Washington County apartment building early Thursday and at least four people were taken to hospitals for treatment.
The fire at Thomas Campbell Apartments on Beech Street in South Strabane was reported around 12:20 a.m., a Washington County 911 dispatch supervisor said. Firefighters had it under control just over an hour later, the 911 supervisor said.
It was described as a kitchen fire in an apartment on the sixth floor of the seven-story high rise. The cause remains under investigation.
The 911 supervisor could not say exactly how many people were taken to Washington Hospital by ambulance.
Firefighters arrived to find residents screaming from balconies for help, South Strabane Fire Chief Scott Reese told Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV. Some residents were elderly and using wheelchairs.
“As resources came in, we were able to get crews up to the fire floor and the fire floor above and the fire floor below and assist in getting people down and out,” Reese told the station.
More than 40 of the building’s residents were not able to return to their apartments because of fire and water damage. The Salvation Army and Red Cross were providing help.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
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