A Rostraver man refused to leave his burning home Thursday and fought with firefighters, tossing one of their helmets from a second-floor balcony and pulling the oxygen masks off others, according to police.
A township police officer had to go inside the burning Indian Hill Road home and arrest homeowner Donald Panepinto Jr., 47, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
“This is the first time our department's experienced that,” said police Chief Greg Resetar.
Heavy smoke was billowing from Panepinto's home at 6 p.m. Thursday during a small electrical fire contained to a garage bathroom.
Rostraver Central Fire Department Chief Vincent Campbell told investigators that Panepinto threw a tool at him from the second-floor balcony.
“Firemen then radioed from inside the residence that (Panepinto) would not get out and was now physically fighting with firemen,” Officer Michael Sethman wrote in court documents.
The fire was burning and the room was filled with smoke when Panepinto allegedly pulled the oxygen masks from the faces of three firefighters in a struggle to get him outside, police said.