200 people displaced; 3 injured in fire at McKeesport senior high-rise

MCKEESPORT, Pa. — Three people are hurt and 200 are now displaced after a fire at a senior high-rise apartment building in McKeesport.

Crews were called to the 600 block of 6th Street around 2:40 p.m. Friday.

The three victims were all taken to the hospital. Two of them are in critical condition.

“I heard bang, boom, boom. Look out the window, I see fire coming out the window. Next thing you know, the fire alarms are going off,” Ray Bowen said. He lives in the apartment below where the fire started.

Jacques Harden rushed into the building to save his grandmother.

“I dropped everything, went in there, grabbed my grandma and everybody on her floor, then went to the top floor,” he said.

Diane Raible is the Executive Director of the Housing Authority.

“There’s a lot of damage inside the building. We checked all the units. We got everyone out of the building. But, we have some substantial damage on the building,” she said.

“They’re going to take this evening and do an assessment and go through the building to see what units have damage and what needs to be done to get you back home,” she said to gathered residents at The McKeesport Palisades. That where evacuated neighbors were first taken Friday evening.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army are both assisting.

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