{"id":239090,"date":"2026-07-09T06:08:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/239090\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T06:08:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:08:34","slug":"abandoned-church-fire-renews-concern-among-mt-washington-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/239090\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandoned church fire renews concern among Mt. Washington neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PITTSBURGH \u2014 A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/smoke-billows-out-church-mt-washington\/WJ7PL6SJWRFB3LQ6P7JF7MCXBA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/smoke-billows-out-church-mt-washington\/WJ7PL6SJWRFB3LQ6P7JF7MCXBA\/\">fire that tore through an abandoned former Presbyterian church<\/a> on Mt. Washington has renewed concerns from neighbors about the deteriorating property as investigators continue to determine what caused the fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE &gt;&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/smoke-billows-out-church-mt-washington\/WJ7PL6SJWRFB3LQ6P7JF7MCXBA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/smoke-billows-out-church-mt-washington\/WJ7PL6SJWRFB3LQ6P7JF7MCXBA\/\">Flames tear through church in Pittsburgh<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cI looked outside and thought it was gonna rain, but it was smoke,\u201d neighbor Tyler Westerman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">During the fire response, police say 23-year-old Colton Normand ran toward a window of the burning church and told officers he wanted to look at the fire. Officials said it is too early in the investigation to determine whether any arson-related charges will be filed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">The cause of the fire remains under investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Neighbors said they have long worried about the abandoned church.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cUnfortunately, I have seen people use it as a residence, using it as a shelter, using it as a space to eat, so I\u2019ve seen a lot of activity,\u201d Westerman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Graffiti and visible structural deterioration have added to residents\u2019 concerns about the building\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cFor how many years it\u2019s been sitting there abandoned, kind of falling apart. The foundation has been bad,\u201d neighbor Lindsey Blobner said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/9-story-high-rise-planned-site-mt-washington-church-though-some-neighbors-not-sold\/QNMFSP32QFGMVIPTJFUOIXOPOI\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/9-story-high-rise-planned-site-mt-washington-church-though-some-neighbors-not-sold\/QNMFSP32QFGMVIPTJFUOIXOPOI\/\">Channel 11 previously reported<\/a> that developers have proposed demolishing the church and constructing a residential building on the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Because of the proposed building\u2019s height, the project requires a zoning code change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Kim Salinetro said she requested an extension on the zoning process to allow additional time for discussions with both the developer and the community before any decision is made. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 A fire that tore through an abandoned former Presbyterian church on Mt. Washington has renewed concerns&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[869,102844,40926,83366,102845,17965,139,102843,859,73,75,74,53908,6995,420,860],"class_list":["post-239090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-channel_11","tag-colton_norman","tag-drone_11","tag-grandview_avenue","tag-kim_salnetro","tag-mount_washington","tag-news","tag-old_presbyterian_church","tag-ott_news","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh_public_safety","tag-rachel_pierce","tag-video","tag-wpxi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}