WILKINSBURG, Pa. --
Firefighters battled a fire that burned for several hours in the 700 block of Penn Avenue on Wednesday.
Watch the Report
The building, which housed a liquor store on the ground floor with apartments above it, caught fire at about 8 a.m. Wednesday.
About 10 people living in three different units said they were woken by firefighters.
"They knocked on the door, woke everybody up and told us to get out of the building," said resident Ericka Tilman.
"I couldn't believe it," said resident Demond Leonard. "Couldn't grab anything. I didn't know what was going on."
Fire crews blasted the building with water, but after an initial interior assault, they were forced back to the perimeter.
"There's heavy fire," said Wilkinsburg Fire Chief Owen McAfee. "Fire in walls and ceilings. We don't want the crews in there when a collapse occurs."
There were no reports of injuries.
More fire departments were called to the scene to assist Wilkinsburg firefighters.
The roof collapsed and the building will likely have to be torn down, firefighters said.
"I thank God we have our lives," said resident Pam Tilman.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Penn Avenue was closed to traffic between Hay and Center streets for hours. Ross Avenue was also closed near Penn Avenue.
The fire ignited, spread quickly and was too much for Wilkinsburg firefighters to handle, so they called Pittsburgh firefighters in to help.
But when they arrived, they faced a major hurdle.
The two-way radios from each company weren't compatible and both companies weren't able to talk to each other.
"We have two separate radios," said McAfee.
"We operate on different frequencies, but we were able to communicate through face-to-face communications and maintain full accountability of all personnel," said Pittsburgh Fire Bureau Battalion Chief Mike Mullen. "The situation was safely run. So, it wasn't a big problem at this time."
But what if the problem had popped up in a different situation?
In December 2005, moments before state police Cpl. Joe Pokorny was fatally shot just off an exit of the Parkway West, he radioed state police for backup. A Carnegie borough police car was just minutes away, but the two police departments were not communicating.
"Initially, I would think, it would be safer if everyone could communicate on the same channel," said Mullen. "But I don't know if they have the radio capacities right now to handle this."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced last month that Pennsylvania is eligible for more than $34 million in federal grant money that is specifically earmarked for fixing communications problems among responders. There is no word yet on how much Allegheny County will receive.
Related Links:More Allegheny County News
Get RSS Headlines | Free Desktop Alert
