When the lights went out on the 33rd floor of the Gulf Tower Downtown around 9:30 Wednesday morning, law clerk Andrew Malandran wasn’t concerned; he said that’s happened before. But when the smoke alarm went off, things changed.
“That had never happened before,” he said.
As he and his coworkers were evacuating, they were unsure of the severity of the situation.
“I figured they didn’t run drills in a building like this,” he said.
Once outside, Mr. Malandran and the rest of the occupants learned that a fire had begun in the basement of the building and plumes of smoke were coming out of the roof.
The five-alarm fire brought over 80 firefighters to Grant Street and took about two hours to get under control.
By about 11:30 the fire was put out, but smoke was still being ventilated out of the building. Firefighters carried in large fans to remove the smoke, a difficult task in a basement without any windows.
Firefighters told the chief that conditions in the basement were incredibly hot and very smoky. They also reported a lot of debris.
Pittsburgh fire Chief Darryl Jones likened the heat in the basement to “being in an oven.”
Public Safety officials initially said a transformer caught fire in the building’s basement, but Chief Jones said he could not confirm that until fire investigators probe the incident further.
“Once we get the environment down where it’s livable, we will let our investigators in there,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
As of about 4 p.m. Wednesday, crews were still trying to vent the building and investigators had not been able to enter.
“It’s good that [the fire] stayed in the basement,” Chief Jones said.
In high rises like the Gulf Tower, fires don’t typically “leap floors,” though it isn’t impossible, the chief explained.
The chief provided no clear timeline on when the basement would be ventilated. The smoke seen billowing from the top of the building Wednesday morning traveled through a ventilation shaft that is designed to funnel smoke out the roof.
The building was fully evacuated, public safety officials said. No one inside was hurt, although one firefighter was taken to a hospital after reporting chest discomfort. The firefighter’s condition is unknown, Chief Jones said.
“All in all, a great effort by everyone here,” public safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said.
Dan Webster was on the fourth floor when he and his co-workers smelled smoke.
“At first, we thought it was something else, but then the smoke alarm went off,” he said. “We thought it was a false alarm, but when we saw all the people in the stairwell, we figured it was real.”
Mr. Webster works for Precision Office Installation. He and his co-workers were building office furniture at the time of the fire.
In addition to the fire, Pittsburgh started the mid-May morning with summer-like weather. Firefighters took turns spraying each other with a hose as they exited the Gulf Tower.
Firefights hose down outside the Gulf Tower building as they fight a 5-alarm fire. The fire is contained to the basement and “seems to be going really well,” according to a public safety spokeswoman. pic.twitter.com/rg5Ym4jagl
— Hallie Lauer (@Hallielujah18) May 19, 2021
The dousing has another purpose: it helps remove any chemicals that would be present if the fire turns out to be from a transformer. When the crews return to the fire station, their gear will be bagged and sent to a warehouse for special cleaning, Chief Jones explained.
The 44-floor Gulf Tower was originally the headquarters of the Gulf Oil Co., which gave the building its name. When it opened in 1932, it was the tallest building in Pittsburgh, a title it held until the U.S. Steel Tower opened in the early ’70s.
The tower, located at 707 Grant St., is now owned by Pittsburgh-based firm Rugby Realty and houses a host of commercial tenants. The KDKA weather beacon at the top of the tower shows temperature, precipitation, humidity and wind speed in a rainbow of glowing colors.
Hallie Lauer: hlauer@post-gazette.com
First Published: May 19, 2021, 1:57 p.m.
Updated: May 19, 2021, 3:24 p.m.