Woman killed in Westmoreland County apartment fire

A 71-year-old woman was killed in an apartment fire in Westmoreland County early Friday morning.

Patricia Baylett was found in her apartment at 828 Dornin Street in Greensburg after a fire broke out around 1:40 a.m, according to the coroner’s office.

Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek spoke with a woman who lives at that same apartment building who recalled the moment she woke up to the fire.

“It was really hard to breath, and really hard to even see,” she said.

That woman says the intense fire woke her and her boyfriend around 2 a.m.

She didn’t want to share her name or show her face.

She told Channel 11 she wasn’t even fully awake as they ran out of the building.

“I didn’t know if it was real or if I was just, it was just my subconscious in my dream or something,” she said. “But something in my instinct to just get up and check anyway and that’s when I realized there was actually smoke in the building.”

They grabbed their dog and made it out as firefighters worked to put out the flames. Greensburg Volunteer Fire Chief Thomas Bell said there was no fire showing outside of the building, but when they went inside, there was heavy smoke coming from the bottom floor.

They tried three apartments before finding the fire.

He described it as an inferno.

“It was basically the heat,” Bell said. “The heat was so big it melted the smoke detector and light that was in the hallway.”

Flowers were placed outside the building with a card reading, “Rest in peace Nightowl” to honor Baylett.

The cause is still under investigation.

“All that I can tell you right now is that we know it was in the living room, and they’re looking at where a chair was, where she was sitting in the chair. We know it started somewhere in that chair area,” Bell said.

18 people are out of their homes because of this fire.

Bell said they’re working with the Red Cross to get hotel rooms for those who need them.

Meantime, the neighbor Channel 11 spoke to said her heart breaks for Baylett’s family.

“That’s someone’s family member at the end of the day. It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I just wish everybody well, and I hope we can get through this together.”

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