At least 2 hurt in house fire in Arnold, 1 victim jumped from third floor to escape flames
Grant Maroni of New Kensington and Corbyn Bobinski of Arnold were listening to first responders put out a garage fire over a scanner just after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when a call came in for a house fire with entrapment just a couple blocks away.
Arnold fire Chief Eric Gartley said the proximity of the locations helped firefighters reach a house fire at 1908 Kenneth Ave. quickly. He said the garage fire was under control when the house fire call came in a little before 7:50 p.m.
“As of right now, we know a couple people were transported (from the scene). One did refuse care,” Gartley said.
A landing zone for a medical helicopter was called for at the 18th Street Ballfield. That patient was being airlifted to UPMC Mercy. At least one other person was transported by ambulance.
He said five people were in the house and none were children. Gartley said there were no fatalities at the scene and he was unaware of the conditions of the victims transported.
“The victims I saw removed from the house or around the house were adults,” Gartley said.
When emergency services arrived, they found a person lying on the ground between houses.
Gartley said one of the victims had jumped from a third-story window to escape the flames.
As they stood on the sidewalk, Maroni and Bobinski watched the street line with ambulances from numerous towns. With Maroni being a former volunteer firefighter and Bobinski being a former EMT, they decided to come to the scene in case answering departments needed help.
“This is kind of the worst fire (I’ve seen) because there are a lot of firefighters, trucks and ambulances out here,” Bobinski said.
They saw an unconscious person being loaded into the back of an ambulance.
Gartley said there was a significant damage to the second and third floors of the home. The structure is a complete loss, he said.
About a dozen units from surrounding communities responded to the fire. The cause of the fire was unknown as of Wednesday night.
Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.