Bentleyville teen helps neighbors escape from burning building
Courtesy of Bentleyville Fire Department
Emergency crews battled a fire at an apartment building on Church Street in Bentleyville early Tuesday morning.
Courtesy of Falon O’Regan
Falon O’Regan helped his neighbors escape from a fire Tuesday morning with a trampoline. He is pictured here with his mother, Rebecca Williams.
Courtesy of Bentleyville Fire Department
The aftermath of Tuesday’s fire in Bentleyville
A Bentleyville teen is being credited for helping rescue residents from a burning apartment building in the borough early Tuesday.
The fire broke out at 121 Church Street shortly before 1 a.m.
“When we arrived, (the fire) was heavily involved in the second floor. There were people waiting at windows to get out,” said Tim Miller, second assistant fire chief for Bentleyville fire department. “EMS, Washington County Ambulance and Chair, along with a neighbor, grabbed a trampoline for the windows and they let people jump out onto the trampoline. Quick thinking.”
That neighbor was Falon O’Regan, 17, who lives in the building with his mother, Rebecca Williams. O’Regan described the apartment building as being two stories with four apartments.
“I was going to go to bed. I looked out my door and I saw a fire. I ran back inside after that, grabbed everything I could and jumped through the window. We had to use the trampoline to get the ones on the second floor because they were too scared to jump,” O’Regan said.
According to Miller, 14 people were evacuated from the building, and three were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. The four units were heavily damaged.
O’Regan says that he and his neighbors know each other well.
“We’ve been living there for about four or five years. We all grew a pretty good attachment to one another,” O’Regan said.
Though O’Regan was uninjured and Williams was at work at the time of the fire, they lost four of their six cats.
The American Red Cross is assisting those displaced by the fire. O’Regan said the Red Cross has provided money, and that he and Williams are able to stay with family.
Bentleyville Fire Department was assisted by the Richeyville, Ellsworth, Cokeburg, California, North Strabane, Brownsville North and Southside fire departments. Marianna Fire Department was requested for rehab, and Valley Inn was on standby for Bentleyville.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the state police fire marshal.