Two people injured while escaping from overnight Elizabeth Township house fire
Two people were injured while escaping from an overnight house fire in Elizabeth Township.
The fire broke out along West Smithfield Street just before 2 a.m. on Wednesday.
Elizabeth Township Fire Dept. No. 1 Chief Adam Janosko said when crews arrived at the scene, there was heavy fire coming from the front of the home with heat that was so strong, fire trucks were parked a short distance away so they wouldn't be damaged.
Janosko says several nearby homes were damaged by the heat and had windows broken. KDKA-TV's overnight unit observed heavy damage left behind at the home where the fire broke out.
KDKA-TV had the chance to speak to the couple's daughter off camera, saying she feels fortunate her parents are alive, as they barely made it out.
"A friend of ours, a cop, called me this morning and told me about it burning down, [and] said they got hurt and all that, but I can't believe it burnt this bad," said family friend George Buhaly.
Video from Lincoln Borough shows the moment fire rescue arrived to be met with the house fully engulfed in flames.
The couple inside had mere moments to escape and had to take drastic measures.
The man was forced to run through fire out the door. He's in the hospital with burns and smoke inhalation. The woman had to jump from the second-story roof. She suffered a broken ankle. Both injured, but alive.
Tragically, some family pets did not make it.
"I'm stumped for words. To have something like this, what two in the morning you wake up to this, they're lucky they woke up; they could've burned alive in the house," Buhaly said.
Nearby neighbors told KDKA-TV that their cat may have gotten out and they're watching out for it.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. No firefighters were believed to have been injured while battling the blaze.
