Arnold officials proud of response to double-fatal fire

The Arnold house fire that claimed the lives of two women and injured others was one of the worst in the city’s history, Fire Chief Eric Gartley said.

“It’s one of those events that, no matter how much training you do, it’s still challenging for us,” he said Friday. “A lot of our firefighters — not just in Arnold, but across the entire Valley — stepped up and stayed focused on the mission.

“They worked together very well in giving the family the best chance of survival they could.”

Just before 7:50 p.m. Wednesday, crews responded to 1908 Kenneth Ave. for the fire at a 2 1/2-story house.

Five people were in the house at the time; two died after being taken to area hospitals.

Shakeeta Murphy, 39, died Wednesday night at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Her sister, Latecia Murphy, 38, died Thursday afternoon at UPMC Mercy hospital in Pittsburgh, the medical examiner’s office announced Friday.

Their mother, whom family friends identified as Lori Muldrow, was taken to the hospital. Her condition was unknown Friday.

One person jumped from a third-floor window to escape the flames. It is unclear if that person is one of the deceased.

Fire officials ruled that the house is a complete loss.

Gartley said it appeared the fire was electrical in nature. The state police fire marshal’s office is investigating. A message left Friday wasn’t immediately returned.

One Arnold firefighter was treated at the scene for heat exposure, Gartley said. He said his firefighters are still trying to cope after the incident.

Gartley said he was most proud of the teamwork among his department and surrounding fire companies, emergency medical crews and police.

“I could not have asked for a better response than what we got,” he said. “We had a lot of people that knew what we had to do and stayed focused on our response.”

Arnold leaders have been in touch with county officials about the possibility of bringing crisis response services to the city following the traumatic event, Mayor Shannon Santucci said. Further information about those services wasn’t available Friday.

Gartley said the outpouring of support from the community has been “phenomenal.”

“I have not seen this type of response in Arnold for a long time, where the community came together and supported everybody,” he said.

Santucci said she has spoken with Arnold police officers since the incident and that they are doing OK.

“They never complain,” Santucci said. “I stood there and watched in amazement how the fire departments and police departments responded, and watched my officers nonstop interact with the fire department, and everyone doing everything they could to help.”

She said she did not know the fire victims but asked the community to pray for them.

“The support from the community, and other communities, has been overwhelmingly so impressive,” Santucci said. “In bad times, people came together and they surely showed up for the fire company on Wednesday night.”