Some Pitt students remain displaced after apartment garage fire

Bob Bauder
Thursday, June 6, 2019 5:45 p.m. | Thursday, June 6, 2019 5:45 p.m.

Go Ad-Free Today!

Submitted

Some residents of the SkyVue Apartments in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood remained displaced Thursday following an electrical fire that broke out Sunday in a connected parking garage.

The University of Pittsburgh is offering housing in a residence hall to students displaced Sunday after a fire in a parking garage at the SkyVue Apartments in Oakland.

Pitt spokesman Kevin Zwick said the university opened a residence hall to students who have nowhere to stay and advises them to continue contacting the building’s management company for updates.

Denver-based Cardinal Group, which manages the SkyVue, did not respond to calls and emails from the Tribune-Review on Thursday and at least one parent of a student living in the building said the company has been equally unresponsive.

“I’m not mad at anybody,” Paul Chlpka said. “I just want somebody to answer the question: What’s the plan? I keep calling, but no one answers the phone and no one answers email.”

Chlpka of West Middlesex said his daughter, Lydia, a junior at Pitt, had been sleeping on friends couches since the fire and was unable to access her car parked in the garage. He said they attempted repeatedly over the past four days to reach the management company with no success.

On Thursday, he said, a security guard at the building indicated that power had been partially restored and permitted Lydia Chlpka back into her apartment. Paul Chlpka said elevators are inoperable and his daughter can access her car, but won’t be permitted to park in the garage if she drives it out.

“They still didn’t have an (estimate) for when they’re going to have the whole building back on,” Paul Chlpka said.

Firefighters responded around 3 p.m. Sunday and discovered an electrical fire in a column inside the garage, which is connected to the apartment building. The 10-story building, which provides housing to university students and others, was evacuated without injury.

Duquesne Light spokesman Gerald Lucci said a crew restored power Thursday afternoon after Pittsburgh completed a wiring inspection. He was unsure if the outage affected the apartments and referred questions to the management company.