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Oct 29, 2009 6:44 pm US/Eastern
Officers Save Woman From Blawnox High-Rise
A hotline has now been set up to help the victims of Thursday morning's high rise fire on Centre Avenue in Blawnox: 412-828-0139
BLAWNOX (KDKA) ―
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The fire broke out around 1 a.m. at the Blawnox Manor Senior Citizen High Rise on Centre Avenue.
KDKA
Two police officers are being credited with helping to save a woman from an intense fire overnight at a high-rise apartment building in Blawnox.
The fire broke out around 1 a.m. at the Blawnox Manor Senior Citizen High Rise on Centre Avenue.
Authorities say the flames sparked in a fifth-floor apartment and about 90 people had to be evacuated.
"I was asleep; I smelled smoke and I looked out the balcony and I saw all the firemen," said resident Richard Alvino. "I heard there was a fire on five, and then the fireman came in and told me to go out on the balcony. Then, about 10 minutes later they told me to get out of the building. Then, I opened my entry door and I smelled all the smoke."
Two people were taken to the hospital; one person with chest pains and a woman suffered burns.
"It is a fire chief's worst nightmare," said Allegheny County EMS Chief Bob Full. "A high rise fire at 1:30 in the morning - all the tenants sleeping – a lot of elderly residents in here. Extraordinary chaos."
It is believed that the fire may have broken out in the injured woman's apartment. She has been identified as Jean Guentner.
She is listed in serious but stable condition.
Officials on the scene say two Blawnox police officers who responded to the fire helped save her by getting to a fifth-floor apartment above it and spraying water onto the balcony below to keep the Guentner from being further affected by the flames.
She suffered third and second degree burns over 20 percent of her body. She is in serious but stable condition at West Penn Hospital.
Total damages for this blaze have been estimated at $1.5 million.
"If it wouldn't have been for the great response of the public safety units, police, fire and emergency medical services here, this certainly would have been a much greater catastrophe than it is," added Full.
Officials with the Allegheny County Housing Authority say residents of the sixth, seventh and eighth floors can return to their apartments by 8 p.m.
However, the fifth floor may take days to get back into. But a few apartments on floors one to four may be ready by this evening as well.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but they believe an oxygen tank may have been involved.
A hotline has now been set up to help the victims of Thursday morning's high rise fire on Centre Avenue in Blawnox:
412-828-0139
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