According to fire department reports, at least 13 people, including seven children, died in a devastating fire in the US state of Pennsylvania. None of the smoke alarms should have worked.
Philadelphia – At least 13 people, including seven children, died in a fire in a row house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to the fire department. The number of victims could continue to rise because the rescue work was still going on, said a fire department spokesman.
Two other victims were in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, and eight people saved themselves from the three-story house, it said.
The building is managed by the Philadelphia City Housing Authority, according to the fire department. According to previous knowledge, eight people would have lived in an apartment on the ground floor. In a second residential unit on the top two floors, 18 people lived – both numbers are provisional, the spokesman emphasized. There were four smoke alarms in the house, but none of them worked, it said.
“Nothing stopped this fire”
The fire probably broke out in the open kitchen on the middle floor and hiked quickly up the stairs. “Nothing stopped this fire,” said the spokesman. “I have no words for what we are feeling right now. I’ve been in the service for 35 years and this is one of the worst fires I’ve ever seen. “
The fire broke out in the morning for an unexplained cause in the middle floor of the three-story row house in the Fairmount district, the fire department had previously explained on Twitter. Accordingly, the fire was largely under control after around 50 minutes. dpa
