At least 13 people were killed in an apartment building fire Wednesday morning, and city officials called it a “tremendous loss of life.”
Seven children were among those killed in the blaze, Philadelphia Fire Department First Deputy commissioner Craig Murphy said during a news conference. Eight people managed to escape with their lives and two others had been transported to the hospital after they became trapped inside of this building due to its rapid spreading nature that was only stopped by an external intervention – timely action from our firefighters who showed incredible courage under pressure!
The fire destroyed a North Philadelphia Housing Authority property and remains under investigation. The cause is unknown, but it occurred on 23rd Street according to the Philadelphia Fire Department who reported that two apartments were converted into one house which was fully compliant with code when they filed their report of the incident.”
Firefighters responded to the fire at around 6:40 am and found heavy flames on the second story of a three-floor rowhouse in Philadelphia. It took about 50 minutes for them to get it under control, according to reports from local news outlets such as FOX 29 News that are covering this story live online right now!
Firefighters responded to a house fire early this morning and found heavy flames on the second story. It took about 50 minutes for them to get the blaze under control, according to Philadelphia Fire Department’s tweet posted at around 7:00 am EST.”
Murphy said that the Philadelphia Housing Authority had inspected this building and installed smoke detectors in both 2019 and 2020, but none worked. These battery-operated devices were equipped with 10-year lithium batteries which also proved ineffective when it came time for them to go off!
The duplex had been warehouse DOZEN. In the summer of 2018, there were 18 people living on its third floor and partway up through eight more in a lower unit that also included one whole level – what could be considered an excessive amount for such space!
The Philadelphia Housing Authority has not responded to USA TODAY‘s request for comment.
In a press conference, Mayor Murphey said that the fire marshal would investigate its cause. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are also at the scene to help with any investigation given how big this blaze was going to be according to investigators’ estimations.”
“We plan on making sure that this tremendous loss of life did not happen in vain,” he said.
The Fairmount neighborhood is still active and the fire department says that it has not had any major incidents in over a year.
“I’ve been around for 35 years now and this is probably one of the worst fires I’ve ever been to,” Murphy said.
WPVI-TV’s aerial footage showed the top two floors of this building near an intersection burned out and blackened.
Mayor Jim Kenney has called the recent incident “one of Philadelphia’s most tragic days.”
“Losing so many kids is just devastating,” Kenney said.
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