‘We had just enough time to get out’ survivor of Kittanning fire that killed 3 says
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One of the people who survived a massive duplex fire that killed three people in Kittanning said he was able to get out because a boy knocked on his door to alert him to the blaze.
“We had just enough time to get out,” Robert Campbell said.
Surveying the damage outside his home of 40 years on Monday, Campbell told TribLive how the boy, whom Campbell didn’t name, knocked on his door.
Time was especially of the essence, as Campbell is paralyzed from the waist down and required assistance from firefighters; his wife, Janet Kasprack; and son, Skyler, to descend from his front porch.
The three people killed in the blaze were Kayla Whittaker, 28; her son, Ryland, 3; and Jason Blystone Jr., 26, according to Armstrong County Coroner Brian Myers.
They were trapped in the residence at 1424 N. Grant Ave. after it caught fire about 3:45 a.m.
Myers’ office was called about 6 a.m. to the scene of the fire, where he pronounced the victims dead. His office is investigating the fire alongside Kittanning police and state police.
The victims resided in the side of the duplex closest to Colwell Street.
Two children who also lived there made it out alive, according to Campbell, one of three people who live on the other side of the duplex.
No one from his family was injured, but their home is a total loss.
The duplex’s structure could be heard creaking in the wind as Campbell spoke with a TribLive reporter. He sat next to various toys and empty soda cans flushed out by crews as they doused the flames.
“I don’t know if we’re going to start a GoFundMe or what,” he said. “It’s still too early for all that.”
One of the dwellings next door had a roughly 10-by-20-foot area of siding melted off, but other than that, the fire was largely contained to the duplex.
Two firefighters were evaluated by paramedics after suffering injuries while inside the house, emergency officials said, and one was taken to a hospital by ambulance.
Upper Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 Assistant Chief Kevin Hogan said one firefighter fell through the second floor and to the first. He was not aware of exactly how the other firefighter was injured, but he believed it was related to the floor collapse.
Hogan’s company was one of several out-of-county fire services called to the scene. Neither of the injured firefighters was from Upper Burrell.
Scott Kline, chief of Kittanning Hose Company No. 6, led the response, according to Hogan.
Kline did not return TribLive requests for comment.
Heavy structural damage forced fire crews out of the building just before 5:45 a.m. They left the scene about 10 a.m.