Fire rips through 2 Etna houses, 10 people displaced
A fire destroyed an Etna home and damaged a neighboring house Saturday afternoon, displacing 10 people, officials said.
None of the residents of the two households was injured.
Firefighters saved two cats, one from each of the affected structures on Wilson Street, Etna Fire Chief Greg Porter said.
A firefighter was treated for a cut from a piece of glass.
Another firefighter who has a pre-existing condition suffered an undisclosed medical event that was “probably brought on by the fire.” Medics took him to the hospital, where he was stable, Porter said.
Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion.
Crews responding to a house fire in Etna on May 9, 2020. @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/3Y5l8cOz7v
— Nate Smallwood (@nsmallwoodphoto) May 9, 2020
The fire broke out shortly before 4 p.m. Its cause remained under investigation late Saturday afternoon.
Officials aren’t yet sure where it began.
Police alerted firefighters to smoke coming from a home, and within four or five minutes flames shot out of the first house and spread to the second.
“From what we can tell, the fire was primarily in the back (of the house),” Porter said. “We’re not sure if it started on the first floor and came inside or started outside and came inside, but it extended pretty quickly onto to additional floors.”
The fire moved rapidly through the first home, which was built in the 1940s, Porter said.
That house is a total loss, but Porter said it’s unclear whether the second home is damaged as severely.
Police alerted fire officials to smoke coming from a home on Wilson Street.
Within 4-5 minutes, flames ripped through 3 floors of 1st house & leapt to a home a few feet away.
Fires spread quickly in houses like these, which were built in the 1940s, Etna Chief Greg Porter says pic.twitter.com/qnELVmHOkA
— Natasha Lindstrom (@NewsNatasha) May 9, 2020
About 100 firefighters responded from a dozen companies, including the volunteer fire departments of Reserve, Middle Road, Blawnox, Elfinwild, Shaler and Millvale.
Crews still were securing the structures and pumping water into them shortly before 5:30 p.m. as several neighbors watched from their porches and nearby sidewalks.
Utility workers worked with fire officials to ensure the safety of gas and power lines.
Happening NOW — Dozens of firefighters work to finish knocking down & securing the scene of a fire that ripped through Etna, damaging multiple houses along Wilson Street. pic.twitter.com/InrGlhwLUS
— Natasha Lindstrom (@NewsNatasha) May 9, 2020
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