Two women fought in vain to save a man with a broken leg from a burning apartment in Scott yesterday, spraying fire extinguishers and trying to move him through a back door before they were overcome by smoke.

Fire quickly consumed the apartment house in the 400 block of Montgomery Avenue, where firefighters were called at just after 2 p.m. The flames were so intense firefighters had to extinguish them before they found the man, dead in a second-floor bedroom where the fire likely started, Scott's Emergency Management Coordinator Steve Haberman said.

The Allegheny County medical examiner's office had not identified the man last night, but relatives in South Carolina identified him as 46-year-old Donald Wilkinson.

One woman suffered smoke inhalation during the blaze and was taken to UPMC Mercy, Mr. Haberman said. The other woman, whom neighbors identified as Mr. Wilkinson's girlfriend, was taken to St. Clair Hospital for evaluation. Both women were expected to recover from their injuries.

Five people lived in the four-unit house, which neighbors said was more than 100 years old. Investigators from the Allegheny County fire marshal's office sifted through charred debris in the home yesterday but had yet to determine the cause.

Kristi Coover, who lived in a first-floor apartment, said she thought little of her smoke alarm sounding until she saw Mr. Wilkinson's girlfriend, her daughter and another woman in a back hallway trying to rescue him. They told her to get out of the house and call 911 because the bedroom was on fire "someone was still inside," she said.

"They tried to get him out of bed, but I guess the flames were too bad," Ms. Coover said last night, while she waited for assistance from the Red Cross. "They were trying to get him through a door in the back, but he was in bed. ... He just kept telling them to get out."

She said her neighbors also tried to use a faulty fire extinguisher to put out the flames. Ms. Coover tried to offer them her own extinguisher but couldn't get past the flames to find it. She was able to grab her dog and little else.

Outside, she saw Mr. Wilkinson's girlfriend "in hysterics," and her neighbor's face covered in soot before the two were led into ambulances. Ms. Coover, who moved to the apartment several months ago and only knew the man through brief interactions, said he had broken his leg a few weeks ago.

Watching as firefighters removed the ceiling from her charred and drenched apartment, Ms. Coover wondered if any of her possessions could be salvaged.

Wayne Weinzierl, who lives across the street, said his grandparents used to own the house, which they called "The Hotel," when friends and relatives would visit. He said his mother was born there in 1920. Other houses in the neighborhood are just as old, he said, and potentially dangerous.

"They're matchboxes," he said. "I've never seen something just flame up so quickly."

Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.