TARENTUM, PA – At 11:50 A.M. on February 21st, firefighters were dispatched to a reported residential structure fire located along the 200 block of West 11th Avenue in Tarentum Borough.

Crews arrived to find heavy fire coming from a duplex style home and immediately began to attack the fire. A second-alarm was requested as the fire quickly grew out of control. About 40 minutes into the fire, the rear of the building collapsed and crews were forced to fight the fire from the exterior only.

At some point, a firefighter on an aerial device adjusting a nozzle became pinned between two rungs when the ladder was being extended. Crews worked for about one hour extricating the firefighter from the ladder by carefully cutting off his boots to remove his feet. Once extricated, the firefighter was transported to a local trauma center where he was released later in the day with a broken foot.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and an additional investigation as to how the aerial accident occurred is on-going. The firefighter is expected to make a full recovery.