Quickly-spreading fire destroys several buildings in West Aliquippa
ALIQUIPPA (KDKA) - Flames tore through several buildings this morning in West Aliquippa.
As crews worked to put out the blaze, smoke, and flames from this fire could be seen and smelled from miles away.
A massive fire broke out early this morning in West Aliquippa, resulting in multiple units responding, and luckily, no one was hurt.
Around 4 a.m., firefighters rushed to Erie Avenue for a report of a brush fire, which turned into multiple buildings fully engulfed.
The call went out to fire units from nearby Rochester, Monaca, Ambridge, Baden, and Bever Falls, and soon, this neighborhood was filled with men and women working to put out the blaze.
Aliquippa Fire Chief Dave Foringer said he is grateful for the units that responded and that everyone, including the firefighters, got out safely.
"We had a pretty good turnout. It ended up being a three-alarm fire, so we had units from Bever and Allegheny County. Fortunately, only one of the buildings was occupied and was residential; we had a small business in the other one, but nobody was injured, and no firefighters were injured fighting the fire."
The business that burned in this blaze that the chief spoke of had been closed for some time. And while no one was in the building when the fire started, owner Frank Wilczynski said everything he had been storing inside the space, including two classic cars, was destroyed.
[I am feeling] very sick. Very sick. I've been up for an hour and a half, and they called me. It took this time for me to muster up and get here. No insurance. It's all a total loss."
While it is not known yet how this fire started, serval neighbors we spoke with said that this is the second fire on this block in a week and that they feel these incidents are linked.
KDKA is working to learn more about what caused this fire, and we are going to keep you up to date both on-air and online.
