PITTSBURGH — It’s been six months since the fire at the Jefferson Apartment building on Forward Avenue. Many said it’s a day they will never forget.
“You can’t forget that. There is no way you’ll ever forget that,” said Joe Sickler, who owns the auto shop across the street.
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Sickler said he had a front-row seat, watching what has happened since the day of the fire at the Jefferson Apartments.
His business acted as a safe place when firefighters battled the flames, and tenants watched their homes burn to the ground. Now, six months later, he’s upset by what the property has become.
“I’m not happy with the way it looks,” said Sickler. “There are people out here that need housing. People were displaced from that place.”
At least 42 people lost their homes because of the fire. Channel 11 spoke with a woman who says since that day she has been getting all of her information from the local news and was left without answers and without her belongings.
“We never got an explanation. We just had to see what we found online,” said Mandy, who lived at the Jefferson Apartments.
She was one of the tenants who had a few of her items saved, thanks to the Pittsburgh Fire Department.
“Those are the only photos I had from my childhood and of my dad who had just passed away. So if I didn’t receive those I would have had nothing from my childhood. The photos weren’t online anywhere,” said Mandy.
Although she’s had to rebuild and find a new home, the letters from her late father were priceless.
“If I didn’t have those, I think I would be in a much different place mentally now,” said Mandy. “But the fact that I have those, I was able to move on more easily.”
The fire was ruled an accident, caused by an electrical issue in the utility closet in the basement of the building. Channel 11 has not received any communication from the property owner, Sheldon Zytnick, since the fire.
Mandy says she received one email and one phone call from Zytnick the day of the fire. Her focus now is to move on – and help others the way people helped her.
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Mandy said, “I’ve been volunteering with the Red Cross, so that kind of helps in ways because I see a lot of other people experiencing this, and I know it’s not just me that this happened to, and I’m able to help there.
Joe at Lifetime Auto says the biggest takeaway is that no one got hurt and they are hoping this property will be used soon to help Squirrel Hill find closure and move on.
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