The Tribune-Review
PITTSBURGH — A California Borough man was rescued early Christmas morning by two emergency responders who went into a burning building to pull him out of a smoky hallway on the structure’s third floor, a fire official said Friday.
The man, whose identity was not known, was flown by emergency medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital, California Borough fire Chief Thomas W. Hartley said. The victim was reported to be recovering from smoke inhalation, Hartley said.
“We lucked out on that. (God) helped out on that one,” Hartley said.
The man collapsed in the third-floor hallway above P.J. McMonagle’s tavern at 153 Union St., Hartley said. Six residents living above the tavern were able to escape the blaze, which was reported by a passerby at 12:42 a.m., Hartley said.
The fleeing residents alerted Tracey Vitale, a borough police officer and California University of Pennsylvania public safety officer, and an ambulance attendant, whose identity was not known, that one man still was in the burning building, Hartley said. The two women dragged him down the stairs and outside the building, Hartley said.
Vitale was taken to Monongahela Valley Hospital in Carroll Township for treatment of a minor injury and was released, Hartley said.
The cause of the fire, which apparently started on the third floor, is under investigation by a state police fire marshal from the Washington barracks. The fire damaged the building’s roof, caused smoke damage to the third floor and water damage to the second floor. The first-floor tavern did not appear to be damaged, Hartley said.
Three California University students live in an apartment in the building, but weren’t home at the time of the blaze because of Christmas break, California University spokeswoman Angela Burrows said.
University officials will try to help the students with insurance issues and to find lodging when they return for classes in mid-January, Burrows said.
Owners of McMonagle’s could not be reached for comment. Bernadette Cain and Elizabeth Laufer, both of California, were listed as members of BBRM 141 Second St. LLC, the corporation that owns McMonagle’s, according to documents filed in November in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh.
Firefighters remained on the scene until about 4:45 a.m., Hartley said.
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