Centre Avenue fire puts students out

By Liz Navratil

University officials said they’ve been able to find temporary housing for 31 students who were… University officials said they’ve been able to find temporary housing for 31 students who were displaced in a fire in the Centre Plaza Apartments this weekend.

The night of the fire, Pitt spokesman John Fedele said he thought that 12 students were displaced.

Fedele said seven of the 31 students will stay in University housing, though he did not know which specific dormitories, until they can return to their apartment complex, which is located near the intersection of Centre and Morewood avenues.

Three students, he said, will stay in apartments on loan from Family House, an organization that rents out the top four floors of the University Club, on University Place.

The rest of the students, he said, decided to find alternative places to stay on their own.

Fedele’s statement contradicted accounts given this weekend by sophomore Kasey Peart.

Peart said the University allowed her to stay in a lounge in Tower A the night of the fire, but workers in Panther Central told her they did not have a place for her to stay additional nights.

Fedele said he did know about Peart’s individual case, only that “everyone was offered the University housing.”