Blaze damages unoccupied Elizabeth Township home

Fire Chief Adam Janosko said not enough manpower was the biggest hurdle while battling the fire.

Elizabeth Township Fire Department and multiple mutual aid partners responded to a house fire Friday morning on Smithfield Street in Elizabeth Township.

Around 10:23 a.m., the first alarm was transmitted for multiple callers reporting a fire from the roof of the 6747 Smithfield St. home, according to a Facebook post from the Elizabeth Township Fire Department.

“One of the members on his way to the station stopped by, noticed a fire coming from the roof, and continued to the station to get the fire truck to come back,” Elizabeth Township Fire Department Chief Adam Janosko said. “Upon coming back, the fire spread a little bit to the front of the house.

“I don’t know who actually called,” Janosko added. “I think someone drove by and saw the house fire and just called it in. It came in as a roof fire. We don’t actually know if it was the roof itself or inside the house and it spread out to the roof and that’s how they saw it.”

A second alarm was transmitted — confirming a working fire and “for additional manpower to supplement the first alarm,” according to the post. A water supply was established and crews went to work.

“It went to a second alarm mainly because of the daylight crew staffing problems with volunteer fire companies as far as guys mostly being at work or whatever,” Janosko said. “It wasn’t really the intensity of the fire that they couldn’t control. It was just based on manpower there. They got under control after a couple hours mainly not so much for fire trucks, but people. We had enough fire trucks and things like that. We just didn’t have enough manpower.”

The residence was unoccupied at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported, according to Janosko. There were also reports of a dog in the house, but Janosko doesn’t believe there was one in the house at the time.

“I would say the front of the house was gutted pretty good, and it was starting to head toward the rear, but from the outside, it looks like the rear is in pretty good shape,” Janosko said. “It’s deceiving from the outside. The whole first floor was basically destroyed and the basement got a lot of heat and water damage.”

Grand Central Pizza in Elizabeth Township gave crews discounted pizza as they cleaned and readied equipment for their next assignment, according to the post.

“A guy came in and said the pizzas were for his dad and a bunch of firefighters that worked on the fire I believe was on Smithfield Street in Elizabeth Township,” one of the owners of Grand Central Pizza John Walton said. “I saw a picture of the house and he said they were down there for a couple hours working on the fire, and then they had clean up to do.

“They had to wind up all the hoses that they let out, and we just appreciate what those guys do in the community and in the township and pretty much everywhere in the world,” Walton added. “They’re volunteers. They aren’t getting paid. They’re doing this out of the goodness of their heart, and we appreciate that.”

Walton added that the pizza shop doesn’t charge anyone in uniform that comes in because they “appreciate what they do.”

Fire departments from the following communities also assisted: Blaine Hill Buena Vista, City of McKeesport Bureau of Fire, McKeesport Firefighters IAFF Local 10, Lincoln Boro No. 1, Volunteer Firemen’s Association of Liberty Borough, Versailles, Sutersville, Citizens Hose Co. No. 1 Of Glassport, Elizabeth Borough, White Oak, Munhall No. 1, as well as the Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services of Western Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Township Police Department and SouthEast Regional EMS.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Allegheny County Fire Marshal, and Janosko said they were not sure what the cause or origin of the fire was.

Janosko added that the homeowner did have insurance on the house and the power was eventually turned back on Friday afternoon.

“I would say they did a great job putting it out,” Janosko said. “I think overall they did a good job with what they came upon with the manpower issues they had with typical daylight fires. All and all, it went pretty well.”