Two injured after Midway home catches fire
Firefighters from numerous departments spent about five hours Thursday morning battling a fire in a Midway house with hoarding issues.
Doug Baird, chief of the Midway Fire Department, said firefighters were dispatched to 202 N. Main St. at about 12:20 a.m.
According to Baird, when the fire started, the woman went to get her husband, who lives in a different house nearby, for help. Both were flown to a Pittsburgh hospital with burn injuries. The woman remains in the burn unit at West Penn Hospital while her husband has since been released.
“She called him to come down and help her try to put it out first before they dialed 911,” Baird said.
Baird said the owner told officials the fire was caused by an electric heater that caught debris on fire.
“The house is a hoarder house. It is full of debris. Papers, newspapers, magazines and things like that. That was the main fuel load for the fire,” Baird said.
The conditions inside made it nearly impossible for crews to navigate the house. Baird said they tried to remove debris, but the fire went up quickly and made it unsafe for firefighters to be inside.
Fire departments from McDonald, Mt. Pleasant, Slovan, North Fayette, South Fayette, Imperial, Sturgeon, Oakdale and North Strabane assisted Midway in extinguishing the fire.
“We needed manpower. Everyone got worn out real quick,” Baird said.
According to Baird, firefighters returned to the station at about 5 a.m. but were called back to the scene about two hours later.
“We got called back up because they had more smoke and flames showing,” Baird said.