Injured Charleroi firefighter ‘in good spirits’

By Brian C. Rittmeyer

Trib Total Media

A Charleroi firefighter was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital Saturday after falling through the floor of a burning house in Monessen, officials said.

The fire at 418 Parkway Ave. was reported about 2:45 p.m., according to municipal Fire Chief Delmar Hepple.

Although the house is vacant, Hepple said firefighters were told a man squatting there as recently as Friday night might have been in a second-floor bedroom.

Because of that concern, Hepple said firefighters made an aggressive attack, including sending a four-person rescue crew into the house and up to the second floor.

Hepple said the firefighter who fell through the second floor was banged up but not burned.

He was alert when taken from the scene to UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh.

The Charleroi Fire Department, on its Facebook page, identified the firefighter as Capt. Matt Prentice. The post said Prentice fell when a floor joist broke, and that he suffered serious, traumatic injuries.

The department said Prentice, a married father of two young sons, was “doing well and in good spirits.”

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