By Chris Togneri, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Nov. 2--A woman who suffered severe burns in a Blawnox high-rise apartment fire died from her injuries this morning, the Allegheny County Medical Examiners Office said.
Jean Guentner, 79, died at 7:14 a.m. A cause of death has not been determined. She was being treated at West Penn Hospital's burn center in Bloomfield.
Guentner started a fire in her apartment early Thursday when she fell asleep with a lit cigarette, investigators said. The flames trapped Guentner on her balcony.
She initially survived when Blawnox police Officer Tom Duffy and O'Hara police Officer Mike Pistorius ran into the burning building and sprayed her with an emergency fire hose from a balcony above.
The Allegheny County Housing Authority said it is considering banning smoking in some or all of its facilities. A 2007 fire in the same apartment building started after a resident tossed a cigarette into a trash bin, housing authority officials said.
-----
To see more of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
