The landlord of a Greensburg mobile home destroyed by fire was charged this week with obstructing emergency services, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.
The Fox Hill Street home was engulfed in flames around 12:30 a.m. March 1 and a resident was hospitalized for treatment of injuries. Overhead power lines damaged by the flames were live and sparking on the ground, nearly injuring several first responders, according to city police.
The area around the lines was cordoned off with yellow caution tape.
Around 1 a.m. a man later identified as Jon P. Brady, 64, of Ligonier Township, was seen near the caution tape. Numerous first responders warned him to stay away from the wires, but police said Brady lifted up the tape, ducked underneath and walked through the area, according to court papers. The first responders continued to yell at him to stop to no avail.
“This interfered with firefighting activities as personnel involved in extinguishing the fire had to be re-directed now to this area,” Sgt. Hank Fontana Jr. wrote in the complaint.
Police said Brady walked toward firefighters and the trailer before an officer stopped him. He appeared to be intoxicated, according to the complaint.
The property is owned by Brady Services of Ligonier, according to county records.
The charges were sent by summons. A preliminary hearing is set for May 11. Brady did not have an attorney listed in online court records.
Firefighters were at the scene until about 3 a.m. Acting Police Chief Donald Sarsfield said the cause of the fire is undetermined.
