Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023:

Fire damages Zelienople housing complex

Officials said a fire that damaged a housing complex in Zelienople may have started in a car parked in a driveway, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI.

Harmony Fire Chief Scott Garing told the station the fire started around midnight Tuesday at a six-unit complex at 102 Timberbrook Court.

The blaze spread through four townhouse units, but no one was injured.

WPXI reported neighbors said they heard explosions. Garing said it was the tires and other parts of the car catching fire.

The Red Cross is assisting displaced families.

Chatham’s former director of student accounts charged with forgery

Chatham University’s former director of student accounts was charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and 11 counts of forgery.

Communiqué, the university’s student-run news site, reported that Alden D. Watters worked as the director of student accounts at the school from July 2021 to November 2022.

A university spokesperson told Communiqué that student funds and balances were not impacted and that the university is cooperating with the investigation.

Court records show Watters, 54, of North Huntingdon is awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 2.

Memorial fund launched for 2-year-old who died in Shaler fire

Shaler Villa Volunteer Fire Company on Tuesday announced they were starting a memorial fund to honor 2-year-old Danika Deramo, who was died Friday in a house fire in Shaler.

Members of the Shaler Villa VFC returned to the scene to place a memorial for Deramo, the fire company said in a social media post.

“Just like the family, the community and the remainder of the first responder community present that evening, we are grieving as well,” the fire company wrote in a Facebook post.

The department announced they created the Danika Deramo Memorial Fund. Shaler Villa VFC will collect monetary donations to help support the family. All the cash will go directly to the family, the VFC said.

Donations can be made online or checks mailed to the VFC at 960 Saxonburg Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15223, with the fund referenced in the memo line.

Four firefighters were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after fighting the blaze at 750 Fall Run Road.

Four other people in the house escaped the flames but were hospitalized.

Deramo’s family remembered her as “angel-like.”

Police investigating crash between SUV, tractor-trailer

The Allegheny County Police Department is investigating a crash between an SUV and a tractor-trailer at the intersection of Grant Avenue and Duquesne Boulevard in Duquesne.

The collision was reported just before midnight Tuesday.

First responders found one person still trapped in the SUV. Crews extricated that person, and two people who had been in the SUV were taken to hospitals in stable condition.

The tractor-trailer driver remained on the scene and was not injured.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the county police tip line at 1-833-255-8477 (ALL-TIPS). Callers may remain anonymous.

Merchandise honoring fallen Brackenridge police chief restocked

T-shirts honoring fallen Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire are back in stock, Tarentum’s police department said in a social media post.

An initial round of merchandise sold as a fundraiser to honor the chief sold out quickly last week. Within an hour of shirts going on sale last Saturday, all of the shirts had been claimed and another 3,000 were pre-ordered.

Tarentum police said merchandise will be on sale next Wednesday at the Brackenridge American Legion on First Avenue from 5 to 8 p.m. There will be one line for pre-order pickups and another for additional shirts and items for sale, while supplies last.

Shirts sizes small through extra large will sell for $15, with larger sizes 2XL-4XL available for $18.

McIntire, 46, was gunned down Jan. 2 off Third Avenue in Brackenridge after a days-long manhunt for suspect Aaron Lamont Swan Jr., 28, of Duquesne. Swan was later shot and killed by police in Pittsburgh’s Homewood-Brushton neighborhood. A Tarentum officer was also wounded pursuing Swan.

The community has rallied behind the fallen chief, with thousands showing up to honor him at his funeral last week.

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