Man killed in downtown high-rise fire ID'd

PITTSBURGH – Firefighters said food left on a stove sparked a fatal blaze in a downtown Pittsburgh high-rise on Thursday.

The fire began in a unit on the ninth floor of the Roosevelt Arms Apartments on Penn Avenue at about 4:30 p.m.

Emergency crews pulled Richard Snyder from his apartment, but he later died at a Pittsburgh hospital.

 One woman told Channel 11 News the fire alarms went off while she was in the shower.

 “When I heard the alarm, I thought it was my phone,” said Sara Milam. “I got out of the shower, turned it off and said, ‘That really doesn't sound like my phone.’”

The three-alarm blaze was brought under control less than an hour after firefighters arrived.

Residents who live on the ninth floor were displaced, while all other residents were permitted back into the building.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.