{"id":268322,"date":"2026-08-19T18:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268322\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:46:08","slug":"fundraiser-launched-to-help-local-effects-legend-tom-savini-rebuild-after-devastating-house-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268322\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundraiser launched to help local effects legend Tom Savini rebuild after devastating house fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PITTSBURGH \u2014 Community members are raising money to help special makeup effects artist Tom Savini rebuild after a devastating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/home-damaged-after-emergency-response-pittsburghs-bloomfield-neighborhood\/7TLGPY7U65BE7CC2ZFB5JWE3NE\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/home-damaged-after-emergency-response-pittsburghs-bloomfield-neighborhood\/7TLGPY7U65BE7CC2ZFB5JWE3NE\/\">fire at his Pittsburgh home<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Known for his work in film, including George A. Romero\u2019s \u201cLiving Dead\u201d series, Savini has called the Bloomfield home on Taylor Street his \u201chome base\u201d for decades, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-tom-savini-after-house-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-tom-savini-after-house-fire\">GoFundMe campaign<\/a> by local effects artist Jason Baker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">An electrical fire Saturday severely damaged the home, killed Savini\u2019s two cats and destroyed family heirlooms and keepsakes from his career, the campaign states. Savini and his wife were not hurt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">According to the Pittsburgh Public Safety Department, firefighters rescued a woman from a rear second-floor balcony. She was treated on scene for smoke inhalation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/cmg\/GJFLPXGMXBBMDAYTK7HUHPJMEY.png\" width=\"1440\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-1htor29-0 jibCgM image-metadata\">Fundraiser launched to help local effects legend Tom Savini rebuild after devastating house fire <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">The campaign seeks to help Savini with temporary housing, cleanup and replacing belongings lost in the fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">In a social media post Monday, the Douglas Education Center in Monessen shared well-wishes for Savini and his wife, Jodi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cTom has meant so much to Douglas Education Center and to generations of students whose lives and careers have been influenced by his extraordinary talent, passion, creativity and willingness to share his craft. He is a friend and loved by all at DEC,\u201d their statement reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Savini founded a special makeup effects program at the DEC, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dec.edu\/ts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dec.edu\/ts\/\">the college\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/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 Community members are raising money to help special makeup effects artist Tom Savini rebuild after a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[47024,7715,7400,422,2350,7401,10063,5612,4272,73,75,18538,74,112357,112358,113137,113136,113139,113138],"class_list":["post-268322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-bloomfield-house-fire","tag-bloomfield","tag-dawn-of-the-dead","tag-fire","tag-fundraiser","tag-george-a-romero","tag-gofundme","tag-house-fire","tag-night-of-the-living-dead","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-house-fire","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-taylor-street","tag-taylor-street-fire","tag-tom-savini-fire","tag-tom-savini-fundraiser","tag-tom-savini-gofundme","tag-tom-savini-house-fire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268322","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=268322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}