Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH — A woman who was trapped under a set of collapsed wooden stairs in Fayette County on Thursday was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital after suffering a broken ankle.
The unidentified woman was one of three adults and a child who were on the steps at 1118 W. Gibson Ave. in South Connellsville when the collapse occurred at 12:33 p.m.
Denny Taylor of South Connellsville said the four had little warning before the outdoor stairway, which was more than 10 feet high and provided access to the second floor of the two-story building, fell out from under them.
“I saw three women coming down the stairs, and all of a sudden they disappeared,” said Taylor, who was standing across the street from the residential building at the time of the collapse.
Taylor said one of the women was carrying a young child. Taylor’s daughter, Amanda Dumbauld of South Connellsville, said she heard the stairs crack just before the collapse.
“I saw them coming down the steps, and the next thing I know, I heard the steps crackling,” Dumbauld said. “They went straight down. It wasn’t slow motion. It was instant.”
Dumbauld, Taylor and Taylor’s son, Dennis Taylor, ran to help the four victims. Dumbauld said they were able to pull the boy from the debris, but at least two of the women were trapped under broken stair boards.
South Connellsville volunteer firefighters extricated the woman who suffered the broken ankle from under the pile of collapsed stairs. Rick Adobato, operations director for Fayette EMS, said the injured woman was taken by medical helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh.
The 2-year-old boy was treated at the scene for a facial cut. The other two adults declined medical treatment, Adobato said.
“They were all very lucky,” Adobato said.
The other women who were on the stairs when it collapsed declined to comment yesterday, as did a woman who identified herself as the owner of the building.
Fayette County property records indicate the structure at 1118 W. Gibson Ave. is owned by Juanita and Charlie Williams of 1105 W. Gibson Ave., South Connellsville.
Steve Helms, South Connellsville fire chief, could not be reached for comment.
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