By Rick Wills
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
NORTH SIDE, Pa. — A man working on cars in a North Side garage was hospitalized with burns Saturday after the building was leveled by an explosion.
Joseph Chiodo, whose age was not available, was in fair condition in UPMC Mercy hospital, said Anne Caffee, a hospital spokeswoman.
“He was at the back door and on fire when we got here and was in the snow to put out the fire,” Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire District 1 Battalion Chief Rick Rutkowski said about Chiodo, who was burned on his arm and torso.
All that remained of the garage were five charred cars.
“There were two very loud explosions, and then the whole building was in flames. It was all very quick,” said Annie Carter, whose home is next to the garage.
Investigators said they believe the explosion was set off when a kerosene heater ignited gasoline fumes. Chiodo had been working on a fuel pump in one car being stored in the garage, said Richard Ford, an arson detective with the Pittsburgh Fire Bureau.
“We believe it was the combination of the kerosene and the gas fumes that started the fire,” he said.
The garage was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived just after 11 a.m., Rutkowski said. The garage, located at the corner of Allegheny Avenue and Liverpool Street, is owned by the Calvin Sheffield Funeral Home for storage of hearses and antique cars, said Calvin Sheffield, the funeral home’s owner. Among the destroyed cars was a 1929 Oakland.
Sheffield said he was relieved that Chiodo’s condition was not severe.
“The cars can be replaced. The garage can be replaced. A person cannot be replaced,” he said.
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