Point Breeze Fire Leaves 1 Woman Dead

POINT BREEZE (KDKA) – A fire in Point Breeze left one woman dead Saturday afternoon.

Mark Robinson lived next door to Kimberly Johnson, 57.

Johnson lived in 7411 Penn Avenue in Point Breeze. Robinson says she didn't have a chance.

"It was a loud boom. That was a dull muffled sound. There was just no way you could go in because smoke was picking up and flames were engulfing the front window and air conditioning unit," Robinson said.

Johnson lived alone. She was immobile and on oxygen.

"She couldn't walk. She was very, very overweight. The only times I saw her was when she was wheeled out in a stretcher to an ambulance which was every couple weeks," Robinson said.

Miguel Pelino tried all he could to save her. His hair got singed in the process.

"When I actually saw there was a fire, I kicked the door in and started yelling to see if someone was in there to see if she was okay. When I heard something I tried going in," Pelino said.

"We were talking to her for a minute and out of nowhere she just stopped talking. Immediately we see stuff burst into flames," passerby Michael Warren said.

Sarah Robb was jogging past the home when she noticed smoke coming from the windows.

"I stopped Miguel on the bike and he got his cell phone and he called 911," Robb said.

"Our firefighters did pull her from the blaze and paramedics treated her here on the scene and took her to West Penn hospital. However, she was pronounced deceased there at the hospital," Pittsburgh Public Safety Spokesperson Sonya Toler said.

Toler says she was found near a door in the front room on the second floor.

"Life just appears for a second for a while and it vanishes away," Robinson said.

The Allegheny County medical examiner will perform an autopsy Sunday morning.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

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