Firefighters in Penn Hills spent the morning battling a blaze that broke out Friday in the 500 block of Guylyn Drive.
Authorities said two teenagers and a toddler escaped the burning home unharmed. The mother of the children was at work when the fire began, authorities said.
Authorities said they believe the fire started in the basement and quickly spread to other parts of the home.
The flames were intense and destructive, crews said.
There were concerns floating around the scene that there was a lack of water pressure coming from the fire hydrants, but firefighters said that was not the case.
Arthur King, the grandfather of the children, said he believes water pressure was lacking and that it made things worse.
"That really don't make no sense," said King. "Look at that. It started in the basement. The whole house is destroyed. They been here for close to two hours. There's no way in the world they have water pressure. They could have got right where it started, and that was it. It wouldn't have went no further."
"The bigger issue is here: no matter if you had one fire hydrant or two, this is an active fire that is already in the walls upon police arrival and the firefighters," said Sgt. Patrick Manning of the Penn Hills Police Department. "I mean, this house is a total loss within minutes."
"I had my great-grandson in there, my grandkids and my granddaughter," said King. "And their mother was at work. She works down at Enterprise. She got called up here. She came up here, and they was all outside, safe. No clothes on. Nothing on their back, but they made it out safely."
One fire hydrant just a couple houses away was not immediately tapped by firefighters. They said the reason was because a car was blocking it.
Crews had to run hoses nearly 1,600 feet to fight the blaze.
"You have fire hydrants that are 20, 30 years old," said Manning. "Using one fire hydrant when the pressure is increased to fight the fire, some bolts at the base of the fire hydrant shear off."
"I know there were some issues about some of the other hydrants," said Penn Hills Fire Marshal Jack Mason. "I know we've had problems with the water system here today. We do have a representative from the water authority here looking at the hydrants."
There is no word yet on what caused the blaze.
The Red Cross and the Salvation Army are offering assistance to the woman and her three children who are homeless as a result of this fire.
