ARNOLD, Pa. — Two people are dead and two people are injured after a fire destroyed a house in Westmoreland County.
Westmoreland County dispatchers say firefighters were called to the 1900 block of Kenneth Avenue in Arnold at 7:50 p.m. Wednesday night.
Four people were taken to a hospital at that time.
At around 6:40 p.m. on Thursday, the Arnold Volunteer Fire Department told Channel 11 that two of those people had died.
At 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified one of those victims as Shakeeta Murphy, 39 as one of the victims. The identity of the second person who died has not been released at this time.
Firefighters said the fire was incredibly intense, leaving them with zero visibility inside when they worked to rescue one person who was trapped upstairs.
Firefighters said the fire started in a second-story bedroom.
“There was significant fire on the inside of this building,” said Arnold Fire Chief Eric Gartley. “All the crew reported being confronted with excessive heat and a lot of heavy black smoke.”
One of the victims, he said, jumped from a third-story window to try and get to safety. Another was trapped inside.
“We had several crews inside. They performed a search they found the victim in a rear bedroom on the second floor. They made the determination that the easiest way to bring this person out was through the interior stairwell, so they brought they carried them down once the victim was outside,” Gartley said. “They began CPR and turned the victim over to EMS.”
An 11-year-old neighbor saw one woman pushing out a window air-conditioning unit from a window and ran to get help.
“She started screaming help, so I went to my neighbors who was watching the baseball game, so I went to them and told them to call the police,” said Isabelle Morrison.
An eight-year-old ran to get a ladder.
“It was my neighbor and me and then her husband helped,” added Jackson Zarbugh.
Chief Gartley praised the kids’ efforts.
“Anytime that they realize that there’s an emergency situation and they immediately seek assistance by calling 911, telling an adult, it makes the world a difference,” he said. “We were able to quickly respond to this fire because of the notifications that we received.”
The cause of the fire is being investigated by the state fire marshal.
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