3 people taken to hospital after fire at Greensburg's Pershing Square apartments

Three people were taken to a hospital Monday after a fire in an apartment at Pershing Square in Greensburg that displaced residents of four units.

Two of the injured were a city firefighter and the occupant of the unit where the flames started, according to Fire Chief Tom Bell.

“The one fireman went upstairs to the sixth floor and was able to get the occupant out of the building with the maintenance man,” Bell said. “He was at the door. They were able to pull him out into the hallway and get him to safety.”

The flames, reported about 12:15 p.m., were contained to a bedroom in the sixth-floor apartment of the 12-story building. Fire investigators are looking at the possibility that incense was being burned near a plastic tote.

“The occupant tried to put it out, the flames got too big and he was overcome by smoke,” Bell said.

Firefighters extinguished the flames quickly. The American Red Cross was called in to help the residents of four apartments on the sixth floor.

“It wasn’t a very large fire, but it was a smoky fire because of that plastic and bedding and everything that was in that room,” Bell said.

Firefighters checked the upper levels of the West Third Street building for smoke damage. Some residents stayed in their apartments while others rushed out upon hearing the fire alarm and smelling smoke.

Several residents sat outside the building on benches surrounded by flashing lights from fire trucks, police cars and ambulances waiting to get back inside.

Debbie Meier waited with her dog, Rascal, and friend Marlane Johnson. Both hoped their units and belongings would be OK.

Meier recalled hearing the fire alarms from inside her sixth-floor apartment. She gathered up her dog and smelled smoke as she left the building.

“I’m glad they’re taking care of it,” she said.

Johnson lives on the fifth floor.

“The smoke came down and went past my window so I got a whiff of it,” she said.

Resident Sharlene Moore said false fire alarms are a regular occurrence at the building, but she knew Monday’s alarm was the real thing.

“I went out into the hall to check, and I could smell the smoke so I knew it was something serious,” she said.