Several tenants rescued
BUTLER TWP — Atenant cooking hamburgers early this morning accidentally started a fire that forced several other tenants to flee their homes at a large apartment complex, authorities said.
Several residents at The Highlands Apartments had to escape thick smoke by going onto their balconies, where they were rescued before dawn by firefighters.
One tenant, still sleepy-eyed, didn't bother to wait for help and jumped 10 feet or so from his second-floor balcony.
An elderly woman was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation; however, there were no other injuries,said Chief Dexter Keibler of the Lyndora Volunteer Fire Company.
Keibler said the fire, which started shortly before 4:30 a.m. in a ground floor apartment in a three-story building that contains 12 one-bedroom units, could have been worse.
"The building is all concrete,"he said. "That's what slowed the spread of the fire."
Firefighters from six departments were called to the apartment complex on Villa Drive, and the blaze was out in about 10 minutes.
However, things were a bit intense during that time.
"When Ipulled up,"Keibler said, "there was heavy smoke." Not knowing if anyone was trapped, he immediately called for more help.
Chuck Foster had been sleeping in his second-floor apartment, just above the unit where the fire started. A smoke detector awakened Foster, who has lived there for two years.
"The hallway was full of smoke," he said, "so I went to the balcony and hopped down."
He used his cell phone to call 911.
Foster, who barely had time to throw on a Steelers T-shirt and jeans, looked around and saw an elderly woman, who lives alone, standing on the balcony just above his."She seemed pretty calm," he said. "I couldn't hear if she was saying anything."But he heard a "crackling" noise that he feared were windows about to break from the heat of the fire.The sound of a police siren outside roused Kristi Tomayko from sleep in her third-floor apartment across the hall in the same building where the fire started.She looked out over the balcony and smelled smoke. After going back inside, she noticed smoke rolling through the door of her apartment, where she's lived for five years."I was going to go down the steps,"Tomayko said, "but the smoke was too thick in the hallway."She returned to the balcony. Ashort time later, Lyndora firefighters had their ladder truck up and rescued Tomayko and two others from balconies on that side of the building.The elderly woman on the third floor was too frightened of going down the ladder truck. Instead, firefighters used the smoke-filled stairwell to rescue her.Fire officials did not immediately identify the woman, who lives alone. Keibler said she apparently suffered a mild case of smoke inhalation and was given oxygen inside an ambulance.Keibler said the firefighters were able to contain the fire to Clarence Thomas' apartment, where the fire broke out."(Thomas) was apparently cooking hamburgers with a pan on his electric stove,"Keibler said, "and it caught fire." The flames ignited the wood cabinets above the stove.Thomas went to the hallway and grabbed a fire extinguisher but was unable to put out the blaze.Soon after firefighters arrived, The Highlands owner William Deemer was outside the building checking with tenants to make sure they were OK.The complex consists of seven separate buildings containing at least 12 units each. Deemer said this morning's fire was only the second one in 28 years since The Highlands was built.He was relieved no one was hurt."The smoke detectors went off throughout the building and everybody got out OK,"he said. "That's the most important thing. Buildings can be replaced, people can't."Adamage estimate was not yet available. Deemer said his insurance adjustor is to inspect the property on Wednesday.Fire officials did not yet know when tenants would be allowed back in their apartments in the building where the fire broke out. All those units had smoke damage.
