Fire at Lower Burrell apartments leaves at least 25 people homeless

More than 25 people are homeless after a fast-moving fire Thursday afternoon destroyed the third floor of the Cedar Crest Apartments along Puckety Church Road in Lower Burrell.

No one was injured.

The fire likely started in the building’s attic and burned for a while before breaking out into a blaze that gutted the third floor, according to Mark Marmo, chief of the Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Department No. 3.

Cedar Crest resident Betty Ann Smith was working from home engrossed in a work webinar. She thought she smelled a slight odor but thought nothing of it.

After somebody pounded on her door and she stepped out in the hallway, her neighbor said there was smoke in the building. Then Smith smelled it and, with no shoes on, exited her third-floor apartment and went outside.

“I lost everything,” she said. Most painful were the family photos.

“I am very grateful that I got out,” she said.

Apparently a lot of people were home and able to get out of the apartment building. If the blaze had broken out at night, Smith doesn’t know if everyone would have got out safely.

The third floor is heavily damaged and the second and first floors have smoke and water damage, Marmo said.

The exact cause and origin of the fire is under investigation by the Westmoreland County fire marshal.

The cause of the fire is not suspicious at this point, Marmo said.

The Red Cross is assisting residents to find housing.

More than eight fire departments from throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley responded.

The intersection of Route 56 and Puckety Church Road was still closed at 4:30 p.m. Traffic was being detoured by firefighters.