Ester A. McChesney Obituary, Death – A fire that broke out in a home in Derry Township on Christmas Eve resulted in the death of an elderly woman. The fire took place on Saturday night. This was one of two fires that occurred at the same time. On Saturday around 5:30 p.m., members of the Bradenville Volunteer Fire Department, along with crew from a half-dozen other companies, were called to Pizza Barn Road for a report of a house fire, according to the officials in Bradenville.
Not long after that, officials from Westmoreland 911 received another call reporting a fire on the porch of a home located on Twin Oaks Road, which is located on the opposite end of the township from where the initial fire had been reported. On Pizza Barn Road, a woman who was injured while she was trapped in the fire has sadly passed away as a result of her injuries. On Sunday, the Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson identified the person who had passed away as Ester Ann McChesney, who was 78 years old.
Carson mentioned that an autopsy was going to be performed on Monday in order to investigate the circumstances surrounding McChesney’s passing. Not only did the firefighters have to contend with the blaze itself, but also the dangerously windy and rainy conditions.
“Conditions outside were as unfavorable as they could possibly be. Our response time was slowed down as a direct consequence of the completely icy roads, which resulted in the situation.” According to Bradenville Police Chief Mark Piantine, who was interviewed by the news affiliate of the Tribune-Review, WPXI. “As can be seen, we are currently working on picking up the hose in this very moment. A hose that was one thousand feet long was laid out on the ground by us so that we could access our water supply.
We are making a concerted effort to collect it before it turns into a solid block of ice.” Piantine’s statements to WPXI indicate that the man’s wife was able to assist her husband in escaping the house with her assistance. State fire marshals are currently conducting an investigation to determine what started the fire.