Pittsburgh Apartment Fire: Questions, Few Answers
An electrical fire at the Northern Pike Garden apartments on Monroeville Blvd. in Monroeville, in Western PA, has left many with more questions than answers.
Since maintenance is part of the rent residents pay, why was an electrical fire even able to start, much less get out of control? Where will they go? Who will pay for smoke and fire damaged personal property? Some residents have answers after this Pittsburgh apartment fire, many are left wondering in the cold.
Over a dozen apartments were unsafe for human habitation after this early morning Pittsburgh apartment fire. Many residents were still home, awaiting their mid-day shifts at work or readying the kids for school. These residents were in grave danger, but fortunately the smoke alarms in the building appear to have worked.
WPXI quotes the Monroeville Fire Chief as having stated in as many words that
The fire seemed to be electrical in nature at the main service bus coming into the building, so they were having a difficult time putting that out until the Dusquesne Light crews got here and shut the power off to the building.
This was no ordinary Pittsburgh apartment fire started by overloading a lamp extension cord or a child playing with matches. This fire began where the main electrical service entered the building, in an area where no tenant had access to, much less control over. The fire began in an area for which the building management and maintenance teams, along with the local electric utility, bore sole responsibility for.
How can you protect yourself against a blaze like this one, where you have no control over the things that started this Pittsburgh apartment fire? How can you be sure your family is safe even when others may be negligent in their duties, as may have been the case here? How can you make sure you have a place to go even if you’re the victim of a fire like this one?
The answer is Pittsburgh renters insurance. You can only take responsibility for your own actions. You can make sure your extension cords are safe, you can make sure your smoke detectors work and test them frequently. But you can’t take responsibility for things you have no control over like wiring that’s hidden from you or negligent neighbor. Renters insurance is designed to protect against risks like this Pittsburgh apartment fire, where you couldn’t reasonably have prevented or controlled the risk, nor done anything about it other than get yourself and your family out of the building to safety.
When you have renters insurance in Pennsylvania, you know that your personal property will be replaced, at the cost necessary to replace it with something of like kind and quality. You know that your liability is covered if you are, in fact responsible for the fire, though that’s not at issue in this particular example. You also know that you’re covered for the additional living expenses you incur as a result of a fire like this.
After a Pittsburgh apartment fire like this one, those who have answers, like what hotel they’re staying in until their apartment is available again, are the ones who have renters insurance. Those who still have unanswered questions are the ones who were without coverage.
Which one will you be when the big loss comes? Will you have answers, and renters insurance, or will you be left out in the cold with no answers and no coverage? Make the right choice today and call the Pennsylvania renters insurance experts at Effective Coverage.