Fire destroys Washington apartments
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Scene of Tuesday morning fire at 890 Ewing Street, at the intersection with Hart Avenue in Washington.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
From left, North Strabane fire Capt. Travis McVay and firefighter Dante Sicchitano descend Washington’s ladder truck Tuesday morning while battling a fire in Washington.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
From left, North Strabane fire Capt. Travis McVay and firefighter Dante Sicchitano inspect the roof conditions of a Washington apartment building that caught fire Tuesday morning.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Firefighters from six departments work the scene of an apartment building fire Tuesday morning in Washington.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Firefighters from six departments work the scene of an apartment building fire Tuesday morning in Washington.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Firefighters from six departments work the scene of an apartment building fire Tuesday morning in Washington.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Firefighters from six departments work the scene of an apartment building fire Tuesday morning in Washington.
Three people were treated for injuries in a fire Tuesday morning in a three-story apartment building in Washington.
Multiple fire companies responded at 8:47 a.m. to 890 Ewing St., at the corner of Hart Avenue in Washington. According to fire Chief Gerald Coleman, the apartment has seven occupied apartment units, but not everyone was home when the fire started.
Coleman said the fire is believed to have been caused by a space heater in one of the middle-floor units. The male occupant was home at the time and received minor burns to his face. He was treated at the scene by EMS crews with Ambulance and Chair and taken to an area hospital for further treatment.
Two other occupants of the building were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, Coleman said. He said about seven people live in the building. The Red Cross responded to assist displaced residents, as the building was destroyed.
Crews were on scene for hours battling the fire, which, Coleman said, “just kept overwhelming us.”
“The building is large, but it’s cut up into about seven apartments,” Coleman said. “It just seemed like our crews, every door and every apartment we went into, it just kept jumping into void spaces and into the walls.”
Coleman said crews just kept chasing the fire into the second floor and attic area.
“We’ve been at this three hours now, and you can see, it’s still burning pretty good,” Coleman said at the scene.
Coleman said that when his crews arrived, heavy smoke was coming from the second floor. By the time crews got inside, the fire was spreading quickly throughout the building, which had a tin roof, he said.
“The problem was the fire had gotten so bad so fast that we didn’t want to put any crews on the roof at that point,” he said. “Normally, we would go up and cut some ventilation holes in that roof, but we weren’t able to do that because of the quick progression of the fire.”
The state police fire marshal and Washington police responded, along with six fire departments, including Washington, Canton, South Strabane, North Strabane and Peters Township.
“We’ve got a lot of guys here, a lot of help from neighboring departments,” Coleman said.
Buses used as warming stations for fire crews were set up along Ewing Street. Icicles hung from nearby power lines, ground ladders and other equipment at the scene. The sun was out, but the temperature was still in the low 20s when crews arrived.
“Things did turn to ice real quick this morning,” Coleman said. “I had some guys slip and fall but no one reported any injuries. We don’t like to lose the building, but at least nobody got hurt.”