New Kensington house fire displaces residents of 4 apartments

No one was hurt in a fire that severely damaged a house containing four apartments on New Kensington’s Sixth Avenue early Saturday.

The fire appeared to start at the back of the three-story house at 533/535 Sixth Ave. and burned through the roof. A state police fire marshal will investigate the cause, New Kensington fire Chief Ed Saliba said.

New Kensington police could not be reached for comment Saturday.

The fire was reported just after 1 a.m. and took about three hours to bring under control, Saliba said. In addition to New Kensington, volunteer firefighters from Lower Burrell, Arnold, Plum, Tarentum and Murrysville responded.

No firefighters were hurt, and Saliba, who was not at the scene, said no issues in fighting the fire were encountered.

No neighboring buildings, to one side and behind, were damaged.

“The fire department made an aggressive attack inside but the way the smoke conditions were they pulled back, worrying about that roof partially collapsing,” he said, based on reports from officers present. “They went back in and were able to get the fire out.”

Some residents of the apartments were salvaging what they could from the building later in the day Saturday.

A man and woman in a first-floor apartment, who did not want to provide their names, said they woke up about the same time to find their home full of smoke. With the back of the building on fire, they went out the front door, along with their two dogs.

The fire spread quickly, they said.

While all four apartments are occupied, not everyone was home at the time of the fire, they said.

Charlie Russell, who lives in the house next door, was visibly shaken hours later. With her, her boyfriend and five girls under 10 in her house, she was upset that firefighters didn’t alert them to the fire and get them out of their home.

She said it was her boyfriend’s son who, after hearing about the fire, ran four or five blocks to their house and woke them up.

While Russell said her house was not damaged, the inside smelled of smoke and burnt plastic.

Saliba could not say why no firefighters knocked on Russell’s door. He noted there was a distance between the two houses.

“We always make sure everybody’s OK,” he said. “We do everything we can to help whoever’s in need.”

A mattress and other materials caught fire Saturday afternoon. The rekindle was quickly extinguished.