The scene was almost surreal when area firefighters responded to a report of a fire in a four-story apartment building on Jefferson Avenue in Bellevue during the early morning hours of Friday, May 15.

Bellevue Fire Chief Glenn Pritchard was among the first on scene just before 2:30 a.m., and saw people leaning from windows, waving and yelling, with heavy smoke pouring out over their heads.

“It’s something you hope never happens,” Pritchard said. “But you have to be ready when it does.”

And ready they were, according to Pritchard, who credits the efforts of firefighters and police with evacuating more than 100 residents and limiting the fatalities to one young man who has yet to be officially identified.

“The potential for disaster was there,” Pritchard said.

The chief said that firefighters performed physical rescues of some 23 residents from outside the building, carrying them out windows and down ladders. Dozens more were helped from hallways and apartments so filled with smoke it was impossible to see.

In addition to the people at the windows, Allegheny County 9-1-1 dispatch began receiving calls from residents trapped in their apartments by the smoke, as well as from third parties who had been called by residents. They directed firefighters to occupied apartments even as crews began a door-to-door search, breaking down doors to force entry into the apartments.

It was in apartment 38, on the top floor, that firefighters found an unconscious male about 3 a.m. They radioed for NorthWest EMS to meet them outside the building and performed CPR in an attempt to resuscitate the young man, identified only as a 22-year-old student.

Pritchard said that the man’s apartment was located above, but several floors away, from the basement utility room where the fire began. Despite media reports to the contrary, Pritchard said that fire never reached the third floor apartment, and the man was not burned.

In fact, the fire itself was quickly extinguished, he said, and limited to the utility room and the apartment directly above it. The cause of the fire has been termed “suspicious” in nature and is under investigation by the county fire marshal’s office.

As is usually the case, Pritchard said, fire itself was not the biggest threat to the occupants.

“The smoke was just so bad,” he said.

Firefighters also were concerned that so many residents of the building failed to evacuate when the building’s alarm sounded. Firefighters said the alarm was still sounding when they arrived at the Bellevue Mansions apartment building.

Several residents were examined by EMS at the scene, and a couple were reported to have been transported to Allegheny General Hospital. Pritchard said that one firefighter sustained a minor injury primarily due to exhaustion.

Some 50 people were taken by Port Authority bus to the Avalon fire hall, where they received food and remained until Friday afternoon, when they were moved to the Knights of Columbus hall in Bellevue. Spencer & Friends Animal Rescue took in seven cats, setting up a temporary kennel at the Avalon fire hall. One cat received oxygen and veterinary care, and four were transferred to the emergency housing facility at Animal Friends.

Fire companies responding to the incident included Avalon, Ben Avon, Emsworth, Quaill, Evergreen, Seville and West View, while Stowe Township provided the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT).

The Salvation Army and Red Cross also responded, as did the Avalon Fire Co.’s women’s auxiliary.