PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A fire in a high-rise building under construction in the heart of Center City brought Monday afternoon to a halt.
Fire officials on the scene at 12th and Sansom streets said equipment and materials in an upper floor of the building caught fire around 12:30 p.m.
"Crazy! All you seen was the smoke. You get out here, and you heard the boom. That's all," said a worker named Don, who was in the building at the time of the fire.
"I don't know what happened, really," said Tyrone, another witness working in the building at the time of the fire. "I was on the scissor lift, and they said it was a fire and get out the building."
Seconds later, as firefighters arrived, Don and Tyrone, along with several other construction workers, were rushed out of the building and onto the street.
"Our companies arrived here around 12:35," said Philadelphia Fire Chief Derek Bomer. "We did see heavy smoke, heavy fire, on the 20th -- it's about 20 stories. Great work on the part of the construction crew. They got us upstairs quick."
Bomer described what they found: "Looks like it was roofing material. We did have a couple explosions of propane tanks."
Within less than an hour, firefighters had placed the fire under control. Most importantly, said Bomer, no one was hurt.
"All the construction workers got out. It's always a win when nobody is hurt."
