Neighbor pulls man off property after blaze guts his Springdale Township home

Editor’s note: This story was updated to show the location of the fire is in Springdale Township.

Della Mayfield didn’t think much Monday morning when she saw smoke starting to billow from her elderly neighbor’s Springdale Township home.

She just looked out her window, then ran.

“There was so much smoke, and I was just trying to get to him,” said Mayfield, 60, who has lived her entire life on Melzena Street. “When I got there, he was on the porch. The house was already in flames.”

Mayfield said she physically dragged Gerald “Jerry” Zilka, a man in his 70s who lives alone, off his 3.9-acre lot separated from the quiet cul-de-sac by a steep driveway where dirt and loose gravel cling to the hillside.

Covered in soot, Zilka later was taken to UPMC St. Margaret hospital for evaluation, authorities said. He was not seriously injured.

About 50 firefighters from seven departments — from Frazer, Oakmont and beyond — were dispatched about 10:30 a.m. to the 200 block of Melzena Street, Allegheny Valley Deputy Fire Chief Tyler Kelly said. Two additional departments later were brought in to assist.

Within minutes, by the time firefighters had arrived, the blaze was “fully involved,” Kelly said. Most of the fire, which tore up the home’s outer walls and collapsed its roof, was contained within 25 or 30 minutes.

Firefighters remained at the scene into the afternoon.

The house is a total loss, authorities said.

“The front wall of that house is relatively gone,” Kelly said. “There’s not going to be much left to rebuild.”

Authorities haven’t determined a cause of the fire. The Allegheny County fire marshal is investigating.

Several fire departments were short-staffed Monday because of the holiday, Kelly and others said. A Springdale Volunteer Fire Department official said, in a Facebook post, that 11 of the station’s firefighters were attending a Memorial Day service just blocks from the fire — but weren’t dispatched to respond.

Many did.

Mayfield’s daughter — Jennifer, 21, another lifelong Melzena Street resident — talked about Zilka as she watched multiple fire engines fill a narrow street where everyone seems to know their neighbors’ names.

Zilka has lived next door to the Mayfields as long as Jennifer can remember. She said she sometimes drives him to go food-shopping or run errands.

Neighbors said authorities came to Zilka’s house two days ago for a welfare check. Nobody could cite specific health problems plaguing Zilka. Allegheny Valley police declined to comment.

“He’s fine. He’s coherent. He’s with it,” Jennifer Mayfield said.

The Mayfields said the fire shook up the block.

“The smoke was hovering,” Jennifer Mayfield said. “You could see it from Lower Burrell, that’s how bad it was.”

Gerald and Patricia Zilka purchased the Melzena Street home, a three-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot ranch built in the 1950s, in 1987 for about $50,000, Allegheny County real estate records show.

Nobody answered Zilka’s cellphone Monday afternoon. Members of his family, including Patricia Zilka, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.