Rachel Carson Hall residents can decide if they want to return after fire damage is fixed

While work continues to repair the top two floors of a fire-damaged Tarentum apartment building, whether or not the people who called it home return will be up to them.

Residents of the seventh and eighth floors of Rachel Carson Hall have been relocated to other Allegheny County Housing Authority properties, said Sgt. Ed Mogus, of the authority’s police department.

That includes other locations in Tarentum as well as Springdale, Sharpsburg and Wilkinsburg.

Of the 14 people who lived in the 14 occupied apartments over the top two floors, one was scheduled to be rehoused by the end of this week, with the last being placed at the beginning of next week, Mogus said. One was staying in a hotel while the other was with family.

Two units on those floors were vacant.

The building was damaged by a fire that broke out in an eighth floor apartment on the afternoon of June 2. Investigators determined the fire was accidental and caused by a damaged electrical cord to a portable heater.

Damage remains estimated at $400,000.

Residents of apartments on the first six floors have been back in the building since shortly after the fire.

Mogus said repairs are ongoing, and expected to take up to four months to complete. Units on the seventh floor could be ready sooner than those on the eighth floor, within two or three months, depending on availability of materials.

Mogus said it will be up to the residents of those floors to decide if they want to return to Rachel Carson Hall or remain where they are.

Relocations worked out well for some residents by fitting their needs, such as getting them closer to family, he said.