PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An overnight house fire left one man dead and his elderly father and a firefighter injured in Northeast Philadelphia. A family is now trying to pick up the pieces.
Around 2 a.m. Monday, officials say flames and smoke filled a twin home on Foulkrod Street just off Castor Avenue, a neighborhood close to Adams Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.
"This is what we call an all-hands fire, which means we had, basically, around 20 fire apparatus and support units here, around 57 personnel," said Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel.
It took about 40 minutes to get the fire under control.
Eric Olsen went to the burnt home where he said his 58-year-old brother died. Olsen's 79-year-old father was pulled out of the burning house by firefighters and is now recovering in the hospital.
What's puzzling to Olsen, however, is how the smoke alarms, which officials said were working, didn't alert the father and son to get out of the house.
"I don't know why my dad didn't wake up," he said. "Maybe the smoke got to him first because they say he was unconscious when they got him out."
Thiel said a firefighter was also injured from debris, but he's expected to be OK.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Fire officials say this has already been a tough year, with four confirmed fire deaths in Philadelphia in 2019 and four more cases pending. There were 19 fire deaths in total in Philadelphia in 2018.
