‘Everyone loved them’: Elderly couple killed in Beltzhoover house fire

PITTSBURGH — An elderly couple died in a house fire early Monday morning in Pittsburgh.

Just before 5:40 a.m., first responders were called to a two-alarm residential fire in the 200 block of Cedarhurst Street in Beltzhoover.

The first crew got there within minutes to find an active fire with possible entrapment.

Firefighters located two people on the second floor.

Charmaine Anderson, 74, was pronounced dead at the scene, and Larry Anderson, 76, was taken to a hospital where he later died.

Denise Bransom is Charmaine’s little sister. She described the couple as “the best.”

“We raised all our kids in this house and a whole lot of other people’s kids, too,” she said of the home at the corner of Cedarhurst and Estella. The pair had shared the home since 1972.

Denise was one of more than a dozen loved ones who gathered outside the home after hearing the news.

“They were our patriarchs. Everyone knew them. Everyone loved them. My best friend’s gone,” brother-in-law Jay Gilbert said.

“God’s going to show me how to process this and I’ll continue to pray for Him for the strength I need to deal with this and be here for these kids. That’s all I can say,” Denise said.

The fire is being investigated.

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