Morning Roundup: 2 injured in Elizabeth Township house fire; Rivers Casino data breach

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, March 12:

2 injured in Elizabeth Township house fire

Two people were injured and taken by ambulance for hospital treatment after a fire broke out early Wednesday at a home in Elizabeth Township.

The fire was reported at about 2 a.m. in the 5200 block of West Smithfield Street, according to an Allegheny County 911 supervisor.

Elizabeth Township No. 1 Fire Chief Adam Janosko said the two people who were injured escaped from the burning house. He said a woman, who jumped from a second-floor window onto a porch roof, suffered from smoke inhalation; a man, who was able to exit through the front door, had burn injuries.

At least one pet dog was unaccounted for, Janosko said.

The house was totaled, he said.

When firefighters arrived, he said, “At least one whole half of the front of the house was fully involved. The walls were completely burned out.

At one point, he said, the second floor collapsed into the first floor and basement.

“The fire spread really quick,” Janosko said. “Thankfully, it wasn’t too windy, or it could have extended across the street.”

He said the heat from the blaze did melt some vinyl siding on two homes across the street and cracked some windows in one of the houses.

A hydrant that was closest to the home didn’t have sufficient water volume, Janosko said. “We utilized a second hydrant further down Smithfield and relied on tank water from Lincoln Borough (fire department),” he said.

Crews remained at the scene until about 6 a.m.

An Allegheny County fire marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze.

Rivers Casino reports data breach

Pittsburgh-area residents are among those who received a letter indicating their personal information may have been involved in a data breach at Rivers Casino Philadelphia.

TribLive news partner WTAE received copies of the letter from several residents who said they’d never been to the Philadelphia casino.

The casino told the station the affected computer files included patron information from Rivers Casino locations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

According to the letter, the casino recently “determined that an unauthorized actor accessed and/or took certain files stored on our computer servers. … To help prevent another incident from occurring, we have implemented additional measures to enhance the security of our network.”

The casino said it determined on Feb. 16 that the involved files may have contained patrons’ date of birth, Social Security number and driver’s license number. It hasn’t indicated how many patrons were affected.