PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Nearly a dozen people were forced out of their homes early Thursday morning when a fire tore through their apartment building in the Eastwick section of the city.
Aire started around 1:30 a.m. at the five units in the middle of Este Avenue, which is close to 77th Street and Buist Avenue. Heavy flames shot out of the top of the building at times. There was a rush to get all of the residents out of the building.
“You take things for granted until you really see it,” said one man who helped his uncle, who lives in the building. “I don’t know what these people [are] thinking. I just know that lives were involved.”
It took firefighters a couple of hours to get it under control. There are no reported injuries.
At least 11 people were displaced. Some residents left to be with family or friends. Others stayed on the scene to wait for the Red Cross, with nothing but the clothes they slept in and blankets that were given to them by first responders.
A man who identified himself as the apartment owner said he put a lot of work into getting the building up to date. Investigators with the Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office are interviewing residents.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
The apartment is close to Penrose Elementary School, but it was not affected. Parents and guardians were seen dropping off their children later that morning.
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