| Sources |
- [S280] Family History Data Donna M. Paszek.
- [S927] Obituary.
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 11, 2004 Broken Leg Hinders Escape
As soon as he saw the smoke spewing from his neighbor's house, Regis, Wiktorzewski called 911, ran to the yellow sided frame house and kicked open the front door. "Anybody in here? Anybody in here?" Wiktorzewski yelled through the thick smoke.
No one answered. But in the dining room, near the back of the house, was Denny Gasbarro, a 59-year-old trucker, who was unable to walk because he'd broken a leg in November.
"He's in there! He's in there!" Gasbarro's frantic girlfriend, Gerri Michalowski, screamed when she arrived at the scene a few minutes later, pointing to her house along Ella Street in Bloomfield. She had left a few hours earlier to baby-sit three grandchildren at her daughter's house a few blocks away.
It was too late. Gasbarro, a Bloomfield native, perished in the fire. The Allegheny County Coroner's Office said an autopsy is scheduled for today. Three firefighters were injured responding to the blaze, which broke out shortly after 9 a.m.
"You couldn't see in there" Wiktorzewski, 45, said about an hour later. "Smoke was just pouring out from everywhere."
Michalowski said Gasbarro couldn't walk very well and used a wheelchair ever since injuring himself in a fall just before Thanksgiving. The couple had lived together for about eight years. She said she had no idea what caused the fire and was too distraught to talk about Gasbarro. "If I would've been there maybe it wouldn't have happened," said Michalowski, 61.
Authorities have not determined the cause of the three-alarm blaze, which gutted the house in minutes.
The Michalowski family has lived in Bloomfield all their lives said Ed Michalowski, one of Gerri Michalowski's four grown children. He stood outside his old home shivering and barely able to contain tears. He said his family was "in a state of shock". His mother planned to stay with her daughter, Lisa.
"It's devastating," said Ed Michlowski, 42, of Verona. "It's a horrible loss. I don't know what to say."
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 12, 2004 Smoke Caused Death
A physically disabled man caught in a house fire early Saturday, died of acute carbon monoxide intoxication due to smoke inhalation, the Allegheny County coroner's office said yesterday.
Dennis Gasparro, 59, of Bloomfield, was found unresponsive in his residence at 436 Ella St. after firefighters extinguished a fire at the house, the corner said.
Source: Obituary, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 12, 2004
Dennis Robert Gasbarro
Age 59, of Bloomfield, on Saturday, January 10, 2004; beloved husband of Gerri Michalowski and former husband of the late Diane Gasbarro; father of Lisa Brogan and Dennis R. Gasbarro, Jr.; dear son of Dorothy and the late Henry "Cookie" Gasbarro; brother of Linda (Lee) Zelkowitz, Maureen (Rege) Tulli, Dawn (Tom) Reiger and the late Cindy Wittig Kubicsek; uncle of Chris, Jena, Darcy, Nick, Nina, Brendon and David; also survived by many cousins and friends. Friends will be received Monday only 1-9 pm at the Winter Funeral Home, 4730 Friendship Ave. Funeral Tuesday 9 am Mass of Christian Burial 10 am in the Immaculate Conception Church.
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1944 - 2004 (59 years)
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