The corner lot at 11th and East Carson streets bears little resemblance now to the disaster scene it was three years ago.
Patchy grass has grown back where the historic 3 ½-story headquarters of the South Side Chamber of Commerce once stood before it burned, collapsed and was razed.
Tenants of the apartments above the chamber lost their homes, and a barbershop that shared first-floor space was forced to move. The fire took hours to bring under control, and part of the building collapsed amid firefighting efforts.
Among the tenants forced out was Justin Bonno. He’d lived there for 17 years. Last week, he told Common Pleas Judge Jill Rangos that he still can’t drive through the South Side.
“That was my home,” he said during proceedings Wednesday at the Allegheny County Courthouse.
The saga that started with the massive blaze Feb. 8, 2021, came to an end last week, when the man who set the fire was sentenced and ordered to continue mental health treatment.
Christian Ross, now 28, pleaded guilty but mentally ill last March. He spent more than 2 ½ years in the Allegheny County Jail and in a mental health treatment facility. After more than a year of delays, Judge Rangos sentenced Ross on Wednesday.
Ross was arrested several times before and after the fire on trespassing charges, including some at the building he’d eventually burn down. He had been evicted from an apartment in the building by owner James Sproat.
On the day of the fire, he had been let into the building, ostensibly to retrieve belongings. Smoke started to pour from the roof a short time later. Ross was charged with arson in May 2021.
“We have had a chance in the past to have conversations. You know that you have a serious mental illness and you have to address it,” Judge Rangos told Ross ahead of sentencing.
“Yes, your honor,” he replied.
She stressed again and again that Ross must continue to take medication and to care for his mental health issues.
“You know that you have services available to do that and that addressing your mental health needs is a lifetime commitment,” she said. “It’s a lifetime diagnosis, the same way that something like diabetes requires a lifetime commitment for you to address it.”
Ross told her that he understood.
His attorney, Leslie Perlow, told Judge Rangos that her client had come a long way and had been receiving treatment in the years since the fire.
“If you recall what he looked like when we started to what he looks like now — he’s a different person,” Ms. Perlow said. “Not that I would say that jail was good for him, but I think the entire process of getting mental health treatment and acknowledging his mental health issues has been very good for him.
“And,” she said, “I think he is ready to take the next step.”
Judge Rangos sentenced Ross to 10 to 20 months for each of the three most serious arson charges, all to be served consecutively. Even then, that 30 to 60 months amounted to time served, and she ordered Ross to be paroled to a treatment facility.
All told, Ross pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated arson while a person was in the building, arson that risked injury, arson with intent to destroy a building, arson of a historic resource, risking a catastrophe and criminal mischief.
He will be on probation for a decade, during which he will have to work to pay nearly $270,000 in restitution. If he fails to continue treatment or otherwise violates the terms of his release, Ross could be sent back to jail.
“There are very good treatments that will allow you to be a productive member of society if you understand the nature of your diagnosis,” she said.
She continued: “I want to point out to you that because you were not receiving proper medical care, your behavior put people’s lives at risk, and you’re so very fortunate nobody was critically injured.”
Though no one was injured, the effects reverberated among those affected long after the flames were put out and the debris was cleared.
“Every day after the fire for a very long time, life felt like walking through concrete,” Mr. Bonno said.
Candice Gonzalez, then the executive director of the chamber, told the judge she hoped Ross would continue to get professional help.
Ms. Gonzalez was at her desk on the first floor of the building the morning of the fire. Her desktop monitor blocked her view and kept anyone outside the front windows from seeing her.
At first, she didn’t realize that fire crews were already trying to douse flames coming from the roof. She eventually heard gushing water and, as she looked for the source, a police officer noticed her through the front window and told her to get out.
Ms. Gonzalez teared up and her voice broke as she spoke about the day in front of Judge Rangos last week, describing how she stood across the street and watched flames engulf the desk at which she’d just been sitting.
All of the chamber’s supplies, including those slated for future events and fundraisers, were destroyed. She lamented the loss of the historic building that served as a hub of all things South Side.
“The 1100 East Carson St. building was a beautiful, prominent, vintage building that served as an informal portal for all Pittsburgh events that came to the South Side,” Ms. Gonzalez said.
“When we lost our building to the devastating fire, we lost more than just our building. We lost a perfect location for the South Side neighborhood to work with visitors, businesses, residents and anyone else who showed up.”
First Published: February 25, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 26, 2024, 8:17 p.m.
