For hours on Tuesday, a fire at a Forward Avenue apartment building sent columns of thick smoke billowing into the sky over Squirrel Hill, creating a haze that stretched across the Parkway East as crews battled persistent flames that displaced dozens.

“Their whole lives are changed today,” Donny Fast said as he stood among the dozens of residents, first responders and curious onlookers who’d gathered in the Lifetime Automotive parking lot.

Mr. Fast, an emergency response coordinator for BMS CAT, a Richland-based water and fire restoration company, watched as flames punctuated the plumes of smoke.

The fire had been burning for less than two hours at that point. The first call for the flames came just before 8:30 a.m., and the first firefighters on the scene helped evacuate the residents,

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