Fire kills E. Bethlehem woman
Firefighters respond to a structure fire at a residence on Step Street in East Bethlehem Township Saturday.
Firefighters respond to a structure fire at a residence on Step Street in East Bethlehem Township Saturday.
Firefighters respond to a fire at a residence on Step Street in East Bethlehem Township Saturday.
An East Bethlehem Township woman was killed and her husband flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital early Saturday after a fire broke out in their home on Step Street in the Millsboro area.
Chanel Bikowicz, 40, was pronounced dead after firefighters found her in the back bedroom of the small wooden-frame house, where she had been trapped during the blaze that ignited shortly before 1 a.m.
Her husband, Timothy Bikowicz, was in critical condition at UPMC-Mercy hospital Saturday afternoon, an on-duty administrator said.
Chief Derrek White of Denbo-Vesta 6 Volunteer Fire Department said his engine responded to the initial call at 12:53 a.m. It was diverted to a nearby ball field, which served as a landing zone for the medical helicopter that transported Timothy Bikowicz, once firefighters learned he’d jumped from a second-story window.
He said the fire was under control “at least two hours into the call.”
“It was fully involved in the front part of the house,” he said. “It’s probably a total loss.”
State police are investigating the cause of the fire.
White said much of the damage was concentrated near a gas stove in the front of the house, but couldn’t say definitively whether the stove caused the fire.
Chanel Bikowicz was pronounced dead at 3:46 a.m., according to Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco. The cause of her death is pending.
Warco said East Bethlehem Township, Richeyville and Bentleyville VFDs and Brownsville EMS also assisted.