Troy Hill building collapses as crews battle 2-alarm fire considered suspicious

PITTSBURGH — A house in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood collapsed in a 2-alarm fire on Sunday.

An Allegheny County 911 dispatcher tells Channel 11 that police, fire and medics were sent to the Herman Street at Adair Street around 11:40 a.m. for the reported residential structure fire.

The house completely collapsed due to the fire by 12:30 p.m., per public safety officials.

TAKE A LOOK AT PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE

Photos and videos shared with Channel 11 show plumes of heavy black smoke coming from the structure before it collapsed.

RAW: Smoke seen from 2-alarm fire in Pittsburgh's Troy Hill neighborhood

Spokesperson Cara Cruz says no one was in the building when the fire broke out, but there were two people inside the attached house. They were able to get out safely.

Investigators said the fire is suspicious and are now looking into if it’s connected to two others that broke out overnight just blocks apart.

One fire was at a two-story house on Hatteras Street not even half a mile away. The other was a street over on Lowrie Street.

“I’m sure they’ll be looking into all of those,” said Pittsburgh Public Safety Public Information Officer Cara Cruz. “They may be related.

Crews were on Herman Street for several hours putting out spots that were still smoldering.

Neighbors are thankful it wasn’t worse.

“I’ll tell you what, the firemen got here very quickly. It could’ve gotten a lot worse. When I first looked out the door, the flames were already whipping up the side of the house,” said Bill Keller, who lives seven doors down from where the fire started. “The firemen did a wonderful job. They responded very quickly, and in a neighborhood like this where the houses are right up against each other and they’re all wood-frame houses, this could’ve gotten really ugly really quickly.”

Adam Butta was at his girlfriend’s house just two doors down from the burning home. He said they were just waking up when they started seeing smoke and quickly got out.

“The switch in your brain when you realize oh this is happening now and it’s happening fast,” Butta said. “We’re yelling for the cat, can’t find him. I see him run down the stairs. I tackle him. I yell to my girlfriend, ‘We got to go now.’ We came out, you couldn’t even see out the window. The whole street was covered in smoke. It was like a war zone.”

Neighbors along Herman Street said the home has sat empty for years.

Butta and others watched as the house came crashing down.

No firefighters or residents were hurt.

Investigators are determining the cause of all three fires.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW