It was deja vu for at least 2 New Kensington fire survivors
One lost a brother in a fire three decades ago. Another lost a home to a fire about 10 years ago.
"The Lord is with me," Keener said. "He's helping me."
The Keeners lived on the second floor of the house, which had separate apartments on each of its three floors.
The cause of the fire is officially recorded as undetermined because of the extent of the damage, First Assistant Fire Chief
It is not considered suspicious.
The first-floor residents could not be located for comment. A woman who lived on the first floor was hurt when she jumped out a window to escape.
The
None of them had renters insurance.
Keener said she and Zane, 66, had lived on
She was home when the fire broke out. He was at work at the Pittsburgh Mills mall, where he's a housekeeper.
Keener said she saw smoke coming through the floor. To get down the steps through the smoke, she followed the voice of a passing volunteer firefighter,
"If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead," she said.
Keener said she was only able to recover some compact discs and DVDs from her place, but isn't sure if they'll work.
"I have nothing," she said. "I lost everything in the fire."
She still has scratches on her hands from Scarlet, which she only recently had adopted.
"It's hard," she said. "My stomach and everything has been in knots. I really haven't been sleeping. I've been shaking a lot, breaking down and crying."
The Keeners have found a new place to live in
Kaylene's daughter-in-law,
"They're going to need pretty much everything," Brink said.
Brink works at Walmart near
"They have a lot of family," Brink said. "We're here for them. We're trying to do as much as we can to get them back on their feet."
Escape from the attic
Montemurro, 35, had lived in the attic apartment for almost four years. He initially got four guitars out of the building, and was able to pull out some tools and electronics when he went back later.
His cat, Mamas, died in the fire.
"It sucks, but I'm taking it reasonably well," he said.
Montemurro, an independent contractor, also was home at the time of the fire, working on his computer. He was able to get down the steps through the smoke on his own.
"I heard some smoke detectors going off. It sounded far away. I thought someone burned food. I didn't get up right away," he said. "I started hearing people yelling from the street. I decided I better get down and see what's going on."
He opened his door to a wall of smoke. He ran out, without shoes or a shirt.
"I knew I was in trouble," he said. "I started running down the steps. I couldn't see anything. I held my breath. It was really hot."
"Nobody even knew I was there," he said.
This was the second fire he's been through. He had been staying with his sister when her mobile home in
He's now trying to save up the money needed to get a new place.
"I'm trying to get as much work as I can," he said. "I have to start over from nothing."
Some help came to Montemurro and the others from patrons at the
When the fire broke out, "We were in the middle of our acoustic jam that we do on Thursday nights," owner
They took up a collection and got a little over
"When you see where people lost everything, it makes you want to reach out," she said. "Our patrons were extremely generous for a small little bar."
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