McKeesport braced for first snow since fire destroyed several plow trucks – CBS Pittsburgh

MCKEESPORT, Pa. (KDKA) – Officials in McKeesport are bracing for the first snowfall since a fire tore through the city’s public works garage.

The weekend fire destroyed several of the city’s tractors and prompted the city’s mayor to declare a state of emergency. It remains in effect for the next few weeks while the city tries to replace some of the lost equipment.

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But many people have come forward to help replace the plow. And because of this, the entire fleet of the city has been replaced, according to the mayor.

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said: “We took down all four of our large tractor trucks. “Fortunately, the fireman did an incredible job making sure the fire didn’t spread to our other building where we have a lot of our smaller tractor trucks being stored. Hold”.

Dozens of surrounding neighborhoods reached out to help so the city could tackle the 105 miles of roads the city is responsible for.

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“Hempfield Township is the place that brought us a big plow truck. They took us down parallel, got us our main roads, main roads, county roads that we take care of and all the ramps of the bridge,” the mayor said. .

Allegheny County also lent a 10-ton truck to the city, and a company near Philadelphia offered to sell McKeesport a model truck the company showed off to customers.

And it just so happened when a truck the city ordered about a year ago arrived on Tuesday, nearly burning in less than 48 hours.

“They didn’t deliver until this week,” the mayor said. “So if they delivered it last week, we’d also have lost it in the fire.”

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The fire department has yet to determine an official cause of the fire, but the mayor said there were indications that the cause could be electrical.