Homestead Structure Fire

2/14/2004 - Homestead Structure Fire

Homestead

At 21:09, the Munhall Communications center received numerous calls of fire coming from the 4th floor of what appeared to be a vacant building in the rear of the 200 block of East 8th Avenue, that is, the 200 blk of East 7th Avenue. Later it was learned that the correct address was 705 Amity Street. At 21:10, the first alarm was sounded summoning stations 171(Homestead), 292 (West Homestead), 293 (Homeville, W.Mifflin #1), 294 (Duquesne Annex, W. Mifflin #2), and R.I.T. 232 (Pleasant Hills), as well as station 630 (Munhall Area Pre Hospital Services), and HPD for traffic and crowd control. At 21:15, 171 Chief reported a good working commercial structure fire, and assumed command. At 21:17, Engine 171 called en route and a minute later, arrived on scene, with Truck 171 following right behind. Also at 21:17, Command requested "All Hands," bringing stations 201 (Munhall #2), 298 (Whitaker), and Truck 133 (Duquesne) to the scene, transfering 238 (Rankin/Swissvale) into Station 171, and having station 203 (Munhall #4) stand-by on station. At this time all units on scene began attacking the fire in a defensive mode, due to the fact that this particular building had been on fire in the past, and that it was a vacant structure.

At 21:20, Sector 3 command reported a partial collapse of the roof. Truck 171's ladder pipe as well as Quint 293's ladder pipe were already in service, while Truck 232 was setting up. At 21:22, command requested the 2nd alarm be struck. This brought stations 203 and 204 (Munhall #4 and #5) to the scene. A minute later, at 21:23, command requested the 3rd alarm be struck bringing station 238 to the scene from 171 and also 208 (N. Braddock #3) to the scene, with 162 (Glassport #2) transferring to station 171. During this time, numerous master streams and ladder pipes were put into service, in an attempt to "surround and drown" the fire.

At 21:28, command requested the 4th alarm be struck for additional manpower. This summoned station 200 (Munhall #1) to the scene. Homestead's Fire Marshall, the County Fire Marshall, the Port Authority (for the use of a bus) and the Salvation Army were all notified at 21:30. Command placed the fire under control at 22:11, with several hot spots still remaining in the structure. The third and fourth alarm companies were released shortly there after. The last apparatus to clear the scene did so at 01:45.

No injuries were reported during the incident, although the crews noted that roads quickly became icy with the numerous hand lines in use. The owner of the building noted that workers had been using a blow-torch earlier in the day to remove a fire escape ladder. It is not known at this time if that had a factor in the fire.

Written By: WPAWhackers - Brian Mach

Pictures courtesy 113-C2