The Allegheny County Fire Chief is continuing to investigate the fire that destroyed the Harrison Township Village Pool and Spa on Tuesday. Concerns over smoke from chemicals such as burning chlorine in the village pool and spa did not prompt evacuations of the surrounding area until the blaze, which moved into a four-alarm fire at hours. Action News 4 of Pittsburgh and a resident whose home directly overlooks the scene. “That was kind of close. I looked outside and it was wreaking havoc. I was in there with the hose and sprayed all over my house and my yard. Boom, some tank exploded. I feel it in my chest. I think , I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t be here, I was thinking,” Rudy Sadr said. The Harrison Hill Fire Chief told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 on Wednesday that they did not have an immediate update on the amount of chemicals stored in stores for the winter. When asked about this, owner John Placek said: “I don’t know if they know there are chemicals in there, but common sense will dictate. This is a pool shop. You’re going to have chemicals. Every The pool shop has them.” The fire chief said he was part of a “combined command” made by him, county emergency services and Hazmat to order an evacuation at that point in the hours after the fire broke out. He said the “safety data sheet” for the burning c chemists suggested that their dispersal in the air might change course in the evening, which would help with the timing of the evacuation. Sader believes they should not have evacuated the area sooner. “No. I think they’re doing a good job. God bless the firefighters. Luckily, they’re here, otherwise my house and the neighbor’s house would have disappeared,” Sade said. “I was so impressed with the Volunteer Fire Department and Police last night. Their dedication, timeliness of getting here, professionalism was simply overwhelming to me,” said business owner Placek. “As for the surrounding community, I hope this doesn’t happen. I know it’s a big inconvenience for people who live near this store. My heart goes out to them, but there’s nothing I can do about it.” Action Pittsburgh News 4 also interviewed a passerby on Wednesday who alerted the only person in the building that the building was burning. “I saw smoke coming out of the roof. My friend pulled over. I ran in and told the guy there was smoke coming from the roof. I think he thought I was a customer because he said, ‘My computer is broken. ‘ I Say, ‘No, no, you’re on fire,’ says Edward Laskowski.
The Allegheny County Fire Marshal is continuing to investigate the fire that destroyed the Harrison Township Village Pool and Spa on Tuesday.
Concerns over smoke from burning chemicals such as chlorine at Country Pools and Spas did not prompt evacuations of surrounding areas until hours after the level 4 fire broke out. The home of an Action News 4 resident in Pittsburgh directly overlooks the site.
“It was kind of close. I looked outside and it was wreaking havoc. I was outside with the hose and sprayed all over my house and yard. Bang, some tank exploded. I felt it in my chest. I was like, I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t be here, I was thinking,” Rudy Sader said.
The Harrison Hill Fire Chief told Pittsburgh Action News 4 on Wednesday that they did not have immediate access to an update on the amount of chemicals stored at the store for the winter.
When asked about it, owner John Placek said, “I don’t know if they know there are chemicals in there, but common sense tells us. It’s a pool shop. You’ll have chemicals. Every Not even a pool store”
The fire chief said he was part of a “joint command decision” between him, the county emergency services and Hazmat when he ordered the evacuation hours after the fire broke out.
He said the “safety data sheets” for the burning chemicals indicated that their airborne dispersion could change direction in the early evening, helping with evacuation times.
Sader doesn’t think they should have evacuated the area sooner.
“No. I think they’re doing a good job. God bless the firefighters. Luckily they’re here, otherwise my house and my neighbor’s house would have disappeared,” Sade said.
“I was so impressed last night with the volunteer fire department and police. Their dedication, getting here in time, professionalism was irresistible to me,” said business owner Prasec. “As for the surrounding community, I hope this doesn’t happen. I know it’s a big inconvenience for people who live near this store. My heart goes out to them, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Action News 4 in Pittsburgh also interviewed a passerby Wednesday who alerted the only person in the building that the building was burning.
“I saw smoke coming from the roof. My friend pulled over the car. I ran in and told the guy there was smoke coming from the roof. I think he thought I was a customer because he said, ‘My computer is broken.’ I said , ‘No, no, you’re on fire,’ Edward Raszkowski said.