Couple rescued from burning Monessen home
By Jeff Stitt
jstitt@yourmvi.com
A Monessen couple was rushed to area hospitals late Sunday night after a fire ripped through their State Road home, according to Municipal Fire Chief Delmar Hepple.
Hepple said the woman was rescued by firefighters via a bedroom window. First responders initially thought her husband may have jumped to safety from a window, but after further investigation, it’s unclear how he escaped the blaze, according to the chief.
“Nobody actually saw how he got out,” Hepple said.
Mon Valley Emergency Medical Services and Rostraver West Newton Emergency Services crews were on scene and transported the man to a medical helicopter landing zone at Rostraver Airport. He was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital, Hepple said, adding that the woman was transported to Monongahela Valley Hospital in Carroll Township before being flown via medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital.
Their names have not been released.
The family dog died, Hepple said. Ambulance crews and firefighters — using a special oxygen mask designed for pets — “did everything they could” to try to save the dog, he added, including providing oxygen, trying to give it plenty of water and attempting CPR.
Firefighters were called to the home on the 1000 block of State Road shortly before midnight. Hepple said when he arrived on scene there was heavy black smoke pouring out of the house from the bedroom where the woman was located and heavy, “intense” flames shooting out of the opposite side, near the kitchen.
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