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2 teen-age firefighters are charged in fatal fire
Friday, March 02, 2001 By Joel Rosenblatt, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Two 15-year-old junior firefighters were charged yesterday with setting a series of fires, including one last month that killed an 85-year-old North Braddock woman.
Police said Chad Pruchnitzky and James Moore III of North Braddock set fire Feb. 16 to the Grandview Avenue home of Anna Lazabeck because they wanted to be part of the rescue effort. The home was next door to Moore's.
Allegheny County police Superintendent Ken Fulton said the boys knew Lazabeck was in the house when they used gasoline to set it ablaze.
Lazabeck was trapped and died after a floor collapsed in the fire.
Police arrested the boys yesterday as they got off a school bus in their neighborhood. Both were charged with homicide and arraigned at the county coroner's office last night. Fulton said they would be prosecuted as adults.
They face an assortment of other charges, including arson, criminal mischief, conspiracy and burglary.
Police said the two became junior firefighters with North Braddock Fire Company No. 1 in December.
From Dec. 22 to Jan. 16, Moore and Pruchnitzky set fires at three homes on Hope Street and Poplar Way in North Braddock, police said. Pruchnitzky also was charged in a Dec. 30 fire on Ridge Avenue.
Fulton said on Feb. 16, Moore and Pruchnitzky stole a container of gasoline from the North Braddock firehouse. A witness saw Moore start the fire in Lazabeck's basement. Once it was ignited, both boys went next door to Moore's home to wait for the alarm from the firehouse, and were there as other firefighters arrived. "They were [among] the first ones at the firehouse," he said.
They wanted to "be there, be a part of it," Fulton said. "They wanted to start it and have a chance to put it out.
"We were lucky to get someone to come forward ... they had vital information," Fulton said.
Junior firefighters are teen-agers who are part of a fire department but have limited roles. Most companies do not permit them to enter buildings at fire scenes or participate directly in fighting fires. They take part in training in preparation for becoming firefighters, and they are permitted to help with equipment, traffic and crowd control.
Last night, a backhoe was parked on burnt rubble that was once Lazabeck's home. Her son, John, and daughter, Theresa, lived with their mother, but were not at home at the time of the fire.
"We don't have fires here," said Nina Burdell, owner of a hair salon in the neighborhood.
She described the neighborhood as tight-knit.
"Everyone knows [Moore and Pruchnitzky]," she said. "They were very good junior firefighters. They come from great families. The whole hill is just in shock and disbelief. This is going to bring the whole town down."
Neighbors have taken John and Theresa Lazabeck into their homes, and established the Lazabeck Fire Fund to help them recover. Donations can be sent to Word & Worship Fellowship, 1200 Wolfe Ave., North Braddock.
North Braddock Mayor Raymond Lee McDonough expressed concern about all of the families affected by the fire and said he would provide all assistance possible to the Lazabecks.
The fires, he said, "in no way take away from the dedicated services provided by our firefighters, and their willingness to volunteer their time and energy."
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